Everything about General Baptist totally explained
General Baptist is a generic term for
Baptists that hold the view of a
general atonement, as well as a specific name of groups of Baptists within the broader category.
General Baptists are distinguished from Particular or
Reformed Baptists.
History
Baptists were first identified by the name
General Baptists in
17th century England. They were called
General Baptists because they believed in a
general atonement — holding that the death of Christ made salvation possible for any persons who voluntarily exercise faith in Christ. These churches were
Arminian in tendency and held the possibility of falling from grace. The earliest known church of this type was founded about
1609 in the
Netherlands. Early leaders of the movement were
Thomas Helwys and
John Smyth (circa 1560–1612). Smyth was ordained as an
Anglican priest in
1594, but received Baptist views by 1609. Helwys was a well-to-do layman. Smyth and Helwys gathered a band of believers in the Midlands, but migrated to
Amsterdam, the Netherlands in
1607. In
1611, Helwys led a small group back to England and established in Spitalfield what appears to have been the first General Baptist church on English soil. Smyth and Helwys were also ardent defenders of religious liberty for all people.
General Baptists slowly spread through England and into America, but they never seemed to command as vital an existence as the Particular (or
Calvinistic) Baptists. In England at least, the religious
revivalism of the mid 18th century changed all that. "Many of the Particular Baptists also effectively sat out of the revival, being especially sceptical of
Wesley due to his Arminianism" . Wesley's Arminianism posed no problems for General Baptists. However, traditionally non-creedal, many General Baptist congregations were becoming increasingly liberal in their doctrine, obliging the more orthodox and the more evangelical among them to reconsider their allegiance during this period of revival. Before this re-organisation, the English General Baptists had begun to decline numerically due to several factors linked to non-orthodox
'Free Christianity'. Early
Quaker converts were drawn from the General Baptists, and many other churches moved into
Unitarianism, a tendency that was replicated on a smaller scale amongst
Methodists in east Lancashire (see
Rev. Joseph Cooke). Another former Methodist,
Dan Taylor, managed to draw together orthodox Arminian Baptist congregations throughout Yorkshire and the east Midlands to form the
New Connexion of General Baptists in 1770. By 1798 the Connexion had its own Academy, which later became the Midland Baptist College,
Nottingham. By 1817 it had about 70 chapels, with notable concentrations in the industrial
Midlands.
Baptist Union of Great Britain formed in 1812 didn't include General Baptists. However, after the so-called 'Down Grade Controversy' resulted in the withdrawal of several Calvinistic theological conservatives like
Charles Spurgeon, who were sceptical of the value of modern Biblical criticism, the path was open to greater inclusion.
John Clifford, baptised in a New Connexion chapel and ordained after studying at the New Connexion's Midland Baptist College, became the President of the
Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1888. Under his leadership, the New Connexion merged with the Union in 1891. John Clifford became the first President of the
Baptist World Alliance (1905 – 11).
A few surviving Arminian elements would remain independent, whilst a number of congregations joined together in the federal
Old Baptist Union.
In America, the General Baptists also declined and were often overtaken by the churches of the
Regular Baptists. Remnants were probably responsible for the rise of the
Free Will Baptists in North Carolina. Other groups have risen that have an Arminian general atonement emphasis, including the
General Six-Principle Baptists and the
General Association of General Baptists. Today (2005), the majority of English and American Baptist churches hold a moderately Calvinistic outlook, combining the general atonement
whosoever will views of the General Baptists, with the total depravity and eternal security views of the Regular/Particular Baptists.
Status
Present day groups of General Baptists include the Free Will Baptists, General Association of General Baptists, General Six-Principle Baptists, the Old Baptist Union, and Separate Baptists, representing over half a million Baptist Christians.
Further Information
Get more info on 'General Baptist'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://general_baptist.totallyexplained.com">General Baptist Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
