Baptist History

A 3 minute summary by David Bebbington - Credo

“Among Baptists, there is a longstanding myth that the essence of Baptist identity is the freedom to believe whatever you want as long as you baptize believers by immersion.” - London Lyceum

“Northern Baptists opposed slavery in the antebellum era and southern Baptists supported it….It’s not an invalid summary of the broad state of affairs, yet the reality was more complex. Consider the case of David Barrow.” - London Lyceum

“Just as Baptists disagreed on seemingly everything else, they did not view slavery in precisely the same way — even in South Carolina.” - London Lyceum

“It is generally known that Baptists in Georgia enslaved people. In fact, the Georgia Baptist Convention has acknowledged and repented of racism and slavery with resolutions in…. not so well known is how actively and extensively Georgia Baptists were involved in slavery and convict leasing.” - BPNews

“Baptists historically approved this theological judgment of Calvin and followed the principle even more closely than Calvin himself. Calvin wanted to lay aside all human inventions in the practice of baptism” - Tom Nettles

“At the turn of the 19th century, however, a decisive shift started. Baptists shed the sacramentology of their ancestors, embracing an exclusively memorialistic understanding of the Supper.” - TGC

“Baptists of past generations were famous, not only for the frequency with which they excluded members, but for the variety of offenses that were considered worthy of exclusion. One of those reasons receiving renewed attention is non-attendance.” - 9 Marks