‘A Believing Church’ Reconsidered

Abstract

The first part of the article describes the author’s journey towards discovering the meaning and relevance of Anabaptist tradition for the present day. From a formal theological education in a state university which concentrated on the Magisterial Reformation, the author was challenged during a period of sabbatical study leave in 1984 to consider the Radical Reformation and, especially, the Swiss Anabaptists and those who followed Balthasar Hubmaier to Moravia. Post sabbatical, the author engaged with the work of Mennonite scholars, Alan and Ellie Kreider, leading to his involvement with various Anabaptist initiatives in England. This caused the author to write a book for English Baptists on insights gained from this exploration of the Anabaptist heritage. The second part of the article explores some of the issues in the book A Believing Church, which was published in 1998, and re-evaluates those insights for baptistic Christians in 2025.