Matthew Y. Emerson - Baptists and the Christian Tradition

Tradition , creeds , liturgy , retrieval , and catholicity are words seldom used in the Baptist world; at least they are not used in a positive sense! However, the contributors to Baptists and the Christian Tradition make a compelling case this should not be the case. This is an excellent work written by some of Baptists finest thinkers. We have needed a book like this for a long time and now we have it.

Daniel L. Akin , president, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Baptists and the Christian Tradition is a tremendous contribution to the very important debate over whether evangelical Baptists must surrender our doctrinal distinctives in order to engage the Great Tradition. The authors respond with a resounding no. Baptists, they argue, can and must position Baptist life within the larger Christian tradition and must do so not only doctrinally but also liturgically. The authors are absolutely right, and this book is a must-read for pastors, professors, and students.

Bruce R. Ashford , provost and dean of faculty, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Baptists have often been accused of being sectarians by other ecclesial traditions. Unfortunately, sometimes weve deserved it! That is why this book is so timely. Baptists and the Christian Tradition makes a case for a winsome vision of catholicity that is distinctively Baptist, convictionally evangelical, and warmly ecumenical. The editors have assembled a first-rate group of scholars to address this vision from a variety of complementary perspectives. Baptist pastors, theologians, and other ministry leaders should find much worth reflecting upon as they seek to embody Jesuss prayer that his followers will be one, just as he and the Father are one.

Nathan A. Finn , provost and dean of the university faculty, North Greenville University

Many associate the word Baptist with a narrowly sectarian mentality. But as this collection of astute essays demonstrates, the Baptist tradition has, in the main, positioned itself in continuity with the historical and global church. This helpful book will help those who want to affirm Baptist distinctives without slicing themselves off from the broader Christian tradition. It is possible to be a Baptist with catholic sensibilities!

Gavin Ortlund , senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Ojai, CA

As an interpreter of Scripture proud to have been nurtured in the Baptist tradition, this volume displays the vast riches of the past as well as providing an orientation toward hope for the future. I am eager to share with my students that which unites Christian denominations as well as the distinctives of this vast and influential body of believers.

Amy Peeler , associate professor of New Testament, Wheaton College

This book provides must-read contributions on Baptist thought and practice. Each contribution is a worthwhile exercise in historical theology that provides a framework for looking backward and recognizing the classic distinctives and gifts of Baptist theology to the church, often while looking forward and offering proposals for how the Baptists of today can be more ecumenical, humble, and most importantly faithful. This collection represents the best that Baptist theology has to contribute through its focus on Scripture, theology, worship, and mission.

Madison N. Pierce , assistant professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Evangelical Baptists have as much right to the great tradition of Christian orthodoxy as any other group, and they should act like it by owning up to what this constellation of first-rate scholars calls Baptist catholicity. Embracing the final authority of the Bible for Christian faith, these authors call fellow Baptists to interpret and apply the sacred contents of the Bible in communion with the saints, with guidance from the past. Baptist faith is not a new, uniquely modern form of religion. It is part of what we sometimes call the small- c catholic church. And dismissals of the wisdom gained through centuries of orthodox Christian faith and practice are a recipe for heresy and sin. May God bless our Baptist churches with a season of renewal as they appropriate the riches of church history.

Douglas A. Sweeney , dean and professor of divinity, Beeson Divinity School

Baptists and the Christian Tradition

Copyright 2020 by Matthew Y. Emerson, Christopher W. Morgan,

and R. Lucas Stamps

Published by B&H Academic

Nashville, Tennessee

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4336-5062-8

Dewey Decimal Classification: 230.6

Subject Heading: BAPTISTS--DOCTRINES / WORSHIP / SACRAMENTS

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the books publication but may be subject to change.

Cover design by Emily Keafer Lambright.

Photo Nuntiya/shutterstock.

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 VP 25 24 23 22 21 20

To David Dockery and Timothy George, pioneers of Baptist catholicity and champions of the faith once delivered to the saints.

B&H Broadman and Holman

SBC Southern Baptist Convention

JSNTSS Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series

SPCK Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge

IVP InterVarsity Press

NPNF Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers

AH Against Heresies

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

S&T Sword and Trowel

PRSt Perspectives in Religious Studies

NAC New American Commentary

SJT Scottish Journal of Theology

ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

T IMOTHY G EORGE

Beeson Divinity School

S everal years ago Mark Noll wrote an article titled So Youre a BaptistWhat Might That Mean? in which he asked: What is the best way to take account of the worlds self-described Baptists? Do they constitute a movement with any real cohesion? Or is the term Baptist so flexible that it designates only a loosely defined collection of heterogeneous fragments clustered haphazardly in one vaguely outlined section of the world Christian landscape?

That last question refers to the fact that more Baptists reside in North America than anywhere elsethis despite the fact that Baptists are a considerable presence in some non-Western regions, such as Nigeria, Brazil, and Nagaland in India. In his article The Baptist Exception, Philip Jenkins observes that this fact makes Baptists an outlier among world Christian communions. In most Christian communions, Global South Christians have strongly outpaced their Northern world counterparts. Jenkins also cautions: Mere numbers say nothing about the nature of faith or the quality of practice.

The nature of faith and the quality of practice, among Baptist Christians especially, are major concerns of the essays in this volume. Each of the contributors is a convinced Baptist committed to an open engagement with the Great Tradition of Christian believing and thinking across the centuries. They are advocates of what has been called Baptist catholicity. This approach presupposes a critical, but charitable, engagement with the whole church, both past and present, along with the desire to move beyond the false polarities of an Enlightenment-based individualism on the one hand and a pastiche of postmodern relativism on the other.