ALLEN TIMILEHIN OLATUNDE
APRIL 2011
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY OF THE BOOK
Title of the Book: The People Called Baptist: A Summary of Their History and Distinctive Christian Beliefs
The Author: Rev. Prof. Osadolor Imasogie
Publisher: Kolashina Graphics, Benin City
Year of Publication: 2006
BOOK REVIEW
Introduction
Bible, the canonized scripture, reflects the drama of God’s relationship with the created beings as He works out his plan of restoration process that will enable man to attain the original purpose of creation. Situation around the early church led to canonicity of the scripture despite the discrepancies and disagreements. Not only the Bible, but also the Apostles creed and the Nicene Creed were jointly canonized. Scripture, not tradition is the sole authority of the Church and the true Church is composed only regenerate people and hat baptism is for only regenerated adult.
CHAPTER ONE
The Historical Emergence of the Baptist Denomination in 17th Century
Baptist movement has no single founder. The 17th century was a turbulent period for Christians in England. Puritan in the church rose with reforms of authority of the scripture. Church then was corrupt, national not congregational, incomplete doctrines and ruling by human constitutions. However, in 1609, a group of Separatists led by John Smyth, an ordained Anglican, renounced infant baptism. He pulled out, baptized himself but later felt uneasy on his self baptism. He was with Thomas Helwys who later left for England to establish the First Baptist Church on English soil. Thomas published a book that was dedicated to King James which resulted to his death. The church that was started by these two had two views: Christ atonement is for all (General Baptist); Christ atonement is not for all (Particular Baptist). English Baptists rejects connection with Ana-Baptists.
CHAPTER TWO
The Spread of the Baptist Faith from its British Cradle to the Rest of the World
The expansion of Baptist faith within Britain took two forms: first, commitment to evangelism; second, civil war opportunity. The enthusiasm of William Carey led to the creation of Baptist Missionary Society in 1792. The Baptist jointly warred against liquor, gambling, slavery issue, urban poverty and unemployment. They established colleges to train ministers and Sunday School for the young ones. There were convictions on biblical baptism which led many to Baptist. England, however, spread to America and America to the world at large through evangelism.
CHAPTER THREE
Beliefs that Baptist Share with Other Christians
Baptists share the doctrine of the Triune God. They believe in the Holy Bible, incarnation of Christ, His suffering, death and resurrection and that Christ is fully man and fully God. We share that Risen Lord fulfils His promise through Holy Spirit. We believe in salvation by grace, neither by works nor by sacraments. No one should stand between man and God in matter of salvation.
CHAPTER FOUR
BAPTIST DISTINCTIVE
We believe in the Supreme Authority of the Bible as the Inspired Word of God in all matters of faith and practices. All Baptist should uphold the sanctity of inspiration that all Christian doctrine must be in harmony with the scriptures and teaching of Christ. The work of Holy Spirit in Baptist is seen as guides to hear, read and interpret the Bible. Understanding of Holy Spirit disallows elevation of spiritual gifts above any other. The Fellowship of Believers as Baptist understand church as consisting only of believers who having covenanted with one another to fellowship with one another in the worship and service of God in consciousness of the presence of the living Christ. No Baptist church should be lone ranger. Believer’s Baptism by Immersion is the belief that one must be old enough to know that one is a sinner, repent and accept Christ and qualifies for church membership after baptism by immersion into the water. It only signifies forgiveness of sin, initiation into the visible membership of the church, dramatic acts of Lord’s death and resurrection and symbolizes our belief in the power o God to raise us up at the end. Church Membership is compulsory for anyone who is in Christ to be united to His body. Priesthood of all Believers is another distinctive of Baptists that any true born again person has direct access to the throne of Grace at any time of the day and night an does not need any priest to stand between him and God. This does not detract from the role of spiritual leaders. The Lord’s Supper refers to as Holy Communion that reminds us that the celebration to reflect our grateful appreciation of self-giving love that led the Incarnate Son of God to offer himself for our redemption.
Religious Freedom was fought that religion is a matter between man and God and that government has no power to regulate such matters. This led to principle of Separation of the church from State. However, it does not mean that Baptist should not participate in politics and government in their country, but that no government has power to establish one religion as a state religion or to fund and religion from public funds. Baptist Congregational Church Polity must be distinguished from political democracy. It is rooted in Priesthood of all Believers doctrine. It has no room for ecclesiastical hierarchy; however, pneumatolacracy should be our model. The Autonomy of the Local Church means that one Baptist church is integrally existentially linked to all other Baptist churches in Christ and by virtue of this union it has covenanted to serve God together within the theological circle that describes Baptist denominations as embodied in Baptist Distinctive.
EVALUATION
The book is small, brief and precise. The author is Baptistic in his approach to statement of faith. The expression in the book is not religious but biblical without bias. The author states the position of Baptist on creeds. No imposition in Baptist as the tenets of universal Church. The author stresses the stand of Baptist as the church of New Testament that believes in the authority of the Scripture. The strength of Baptist became intensive even in the face of persecution. The author was able to spell out the distinctive of what made up the people called Baptist from the inception.
However, the author could not dig deep on the Baptist history compared with other renowned authors like him. The book wants to be simplistic yet it could not address some issues but only paraphrases.
Nevertheless, the book can be a handbook for Baptist to shed light on our beliefs and to avoid wrong perception to issues that cause conflict within and outside the church.
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