A masterful, reader-friendly history of
Baptists’ first four cen-
turies. Without overlooking perennial tensions in Baptist life
— Calvinism v. Arminianism, formal v. spontaneous worship,
primitivism v. missionary mindedness, local church autonomy
v.
connectionalism — Gourley chronicles the pervasive theme
held
dear by Baptists: voluntary religion and church-state sep-
aration. The first sentence whets the
appetite of even a casual
reader.
Unpacking the provocative opening salvo makes for a
valuable contribution to the Baptist story and helps to further
the Baptist heritage of freedom for another 400 years.
J. Brent Walker,
Executive Director,
Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty