In Search of the New Testament Church: The Baptist Story

by C. Douglas Weaver

When John Smyth organized the first Baptist church, he wanted to establish the New Testament church; believer's baptism was the missing link. Baptists of subsequent eras often continued the search to embody "New Testament Christianity." Unique to surveys of Baptist life, Doug Weaver highlights this restorationist theme as a way to understand Baptist identity. Weaver does not force the theme, but the "search" is ever present. It is found in the insistence upon believer's baptism, but also in examples like the Sabbath worship of Seventh Day Baptists, the "nine rites" of colonial Separate Baptists, the women preachers of Free Will Baptists, the "trail of blood" of Landmarkism, the social gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch, the "fundamentals" of fundamentalism and the ministry of the European pioneer Johann Oncken. Like other recent Baptist studies, Weaver describes Baptist diversity. Still, he highlights the persistent commitment of most Baptists to an informal constellation of "Baptist distinctives." Alongside the quest for the New Testament church (and congregational community), Weaver especially highlights the Baptist commitment to religious liberty and the individual conscience. This emphasis, while later reinforced by Enlightenment ideals, could already be found in the biblicist piety of the earliest Baptists who insisted that individual believers must have the right to choose their religious beliefs because they would stand alone before God at the final judgment. Both chronological and thematic, this book addresses such themes as the role of women, the social gospel, ecumenism, charismatic influences, and theological emphases in Baptist life. The book's focus is America, but it also includes helpful introductory chapters on early English Baptists and international Baptists.

Genres: Church History

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry at times, but I think this book achieved exactly what it set out to do. It’s a history of Baptists, with very little additional fluff or commentary. If that’s what it wants, that’s it got. I think there could be a bit more on international Baptist life, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and perhaps other contentious issues (ie, same-sex marriage), but then again no book can do it all.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brisk, accessible history. Unfortunately, it sacrifices depth for breadth; over and over, an important doctrinal principle or distinction is flicked over with a breezy single sentence -- not necessarily incorrect, but almost always incomprehensive. There are strong points: the book is totally disinterested; the analyses of each branches' social ramifications are consistently logical and relevant, and the progressive formation of these social doctrines forms a panoramic and useful overview of American social history, as well as an interesting commentary on modern evangelical Protestantism. However, too much is left unsaid for this to be more than a secondary work on the topic.