Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study Hardcover – January 1, 2009

Thorough review of Baptist Theology and some of the variation along the way. Great for Baptist Theology and context.

great

Baptist Theology by James Garrett is one of the most comprehensive studies of Baptist historical theology ever written. Dr. Garrett puts half a century of academic theological experience to use by meticulously documenting the development of Baptist theology through the four centuries following their emergence in England and Continental Europe to the present day. He also addresses many misconceptions about Baptist origins. For instance the common misconception that Baptists came directly from the Anabaptist movement. He also documents and challenges Landmarkism's erroneous view of Baptist history. This is an essential work for anyone desiring to understand Baptist theology and its development through the centuries. Most Baptists assume that we materialized out of nothing in the 1950s. This lack of hindsight has in recent decades led Baptists to embrace bad theology and practices and to shun things historically maintained by Baptists. Dr. Garrett's book is a welcomed resource for those seeking to correct these trends.This is a heavy volume with 726 pages. However, for all those pages, there are only 13 chapters. They are as follows:Ch. 1 - The Roots of Baptist BeliefsCh. 2 - English General BaptistsCh. 3 - English Particular BaptistsCh. 4 - Early American BaptistsCh. 5 - Awakening and Missionary BaptistsCh. 6 - Baptist LandmarkismCh. 7 - Baptists in ControversyCh. 8 - Biblical TheologiansCh. 9 - Twentieth Century Southern BaptistsCh. 10 - Recovering Evangelicalism and Reassessing the Baptist HeritageCh. 11 - Incursions into Baptist TheologyCh. 12 - Missions, Ecumenism, and GlobalizationCh. 13 - New Voices in Baptist Theology

In this comprehensive study theologian Garret thoroughly traces the course and development of Baptist theology including the various confessions of faith, the movement, important leaders, and controversies such as Arminianism versus Calvinism and liberal versus conservative. Garret also describes the distinctives taught by Baptists. Dr. Garrett also tackles contentious issue such as the argument over Baptist origins and Landmarkism. This thorough examination of Baptist theology is the result of Mr. Garret's half-century of research and teaching.

I enjoyed reading this book but could not see much about the Independent Baptist movement.It did have alot of interesting insights and you could trace the overall development of theological thought. I would recommend this book to anyone really interested in knowing the truth and not myth of the christians called "Baptists"

Leo Garrett at his best. He is such an incredible researcher, that not only the content but also the footnotes are truly helpful for research in Baptist and Free-Church studies. A must read for every student and professor in Baptist and Free-Church studies!

The book has barely 5 pages (I say barely because a third of each page is taken up with references - something I'm happy about) on the Patristic and Medieval period which only highlights that Baptists are not heretics because they agree with the Apostolic and Nicene creed. He also largely undercuts any serious teaching on anyone being a Baptist in the first few centuries of the church.The book has separate chapters on English General Baptists and Particular Baptists and then largely deals with American Baptists. The book is organised well. It deals mainly with Baptist history from the late 16th century until the late 20th century and deals with how the various Baptist theologians dealt with various topics.I was very disappointed since I was given the impression that this book dealt in a significant way with the Patristic and Medieval church and this was primarily why I bought the book. With over 700 pages of Baptist history, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the historical development of the Baptist Church.The only reason I gave this book a 2 star rating is because the description is misleading and this book was not what I wanted to spend my money on. I'd heard that James Leo Garrett had an amazing knowledge of how he taught Patristics and was hoping to see that here.