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 PrintableVersion The search for a common identityStreams of BaptistsTHE SEARCH FOR A COMMON IDENTITY This book is No. 9 in the Paternoster Press series of Studies in Baptist History and Thought. A foreword by David Bebbington recommends the author’s diligent work in research for writing this book. The author has sought to explore the process by which the various streams of Baptist churches, after several failed attempts, were able to come together in 1869 to form the Baptist Union of Scotland, which remains today. It is a 19th-century story, but not without a 21st-century application! Three main streams of Baptist churches are identified, and brief biographies given of the leaders in each of them. Each stream (identified as Scotch Baptist, English Baptist and Haldenite Baptist) had differences in church practice and biblical understanding which made it difficult for happy union to exist between them. Attempts to form unions in 1827 and 1843 were both short-lived; the Haldenite Baptists were divided among themselves as to the value of such a union anyway, preferring to use all their energies in home mission. The author helpfully explores the reasons for these failures. Interestingly the Baptist Home Mission Society seemed to draw support from all quarters, and was, by some, thought of as a substitute union. However, when the Society began to initiate activities beyond the strict remit of a missionary society, gradually the need for a distinct Baptist union was identified. The realisation developed that previous failures must not be allowed to prevent the establishing of a Baptist Union for Scotland. The influence of English Particular Baptists and students from Spurgeon’s College for ministry in Scotland encouraged the formation of the Union for Scotland in 1869. The first secretary of the Union, William Tulloch, expressed the joy of the occasion: ‘the courting and the wooing are all over, and the banns have been publicly proclaimed, in due order, none objecting and none forbidding, and nothing now remains but the happy consummation of the too-long-deferred Union.’ The book contains a number of charts which illustrate the locations of the missionaries of the home mission and the growth of Baptist work in Scotland over the years 1800-1879. There is a good index and helpful bibliography pages. John Appleby, © Evangelicals Now - October 2005 |
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