Journal of European Baptist Studies

Book Reviews

Brian Talbot — 2024-12-20

Barry Evans, Helping Care for the Young: Rye Lane Chapel Sunday School, Peckham, London, 200th Anniversary 1822–2022.

Oleksandr Geychenko, Brotherhood in Christ: Towards a Ukrainian Baptist Perspective on Associations of Churches.

Miguel A. De La Torre, The U. S. Immigration Crisis: Towards an Ethics of Place.

Enoh Šeba, Sermon Listening: A New Approach Based on Congregational Studies and Rhetoric.

Andy McCullough, Global Humility: Attitudes for Mission.

Rosalind Tan, Nativity Petallar, and Lucy Hefford (eds), God’s Heart for Children.

Pieter J. Lalleman, Peter J. Morden, and Anthony R. Cross (eds) Grounded in Grace: Essays to Honour Ian M. Randall.

Gabrielle Thomas, For the Good of the Church: Unity, Theology and Women.

Ted Grimsrud, To Follow The Lamb: A Peaceable Reading of the Book of Revelation.

Arend Van Dorp, Ethnic Diversity and Reconciliation: A Missional Model for the Church in Myanmar.

Editorial

Toivo Pilli — 2024-12-20

On What Do We Agree?: The Idea of the Normative in British Baptist Life

Anthony Clarke — 2024-12-20

This article seeks to explore what might be considered normative in British Baptist life. It seeks to explore behind the Declaration of Principle and argues that the foundation statement is the multi-dimensional confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ and examines the particular way that this has been understood by Baptists, discussing some implications of this for individuals, local churches, and a union of churches. It then suggests that the Declaration of Principle is one way that the confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ is further explicated but that as a contingent and contextual document, it could be developed in different ways, and the article ends by considering some of the current issues that have been addressed to the Declaration of Principle.

Theological Education and Mission in Estonia: Dialogue in Theory and Practice

Einike Pilli — 2024-12-20

Estonian baptistic communities face a missiological problem. They lack the ability for a meaningful dialogue with the rapidly changing society. As a result, churches tend to distance themselves from the wider community and create Christian echo-chambers in the midst of a ‘hostile’ world, becoming alienated from their culture and society. This results in a missional disability as far as touching the lives of people and serving the society goes in a highly secularised and hyper-modernised Estonia. This article presents an attempt by the Estonian Free Church Theological Seminary to face this missional challenge by creating a master’s programme ‘Theology and Society’, using dialogical and problem-based learning methods in the educational process, to prepare future Christian leaders.

Scottish Baptists and Overseas Mission in the Late Twentieth Century

Brian Talbot — 2024-12-20

Revd Dr Brian Talbot is Minister of Broughty Ferry Baptist Church, Dundee, and a Senior Research Fellow at IBTS Amsterdam.

‘70 x 7’?: Lessons on Forgiveness from an Historical Reading of Matthew 18

Ksenija Magda — 2024-12-20

‘Forgive 70 times 7’ and the ‘Three Step Rule’ principle of reconciliation is praised as hands-on ‘biblical’ advice, but for many victims it increases the abuse as they are forced to recall their gruesome experience and evaluate their own fault in what happened. Often quick solutions for complicated issues are forced on the victim by the church’s divine power of ‘tying and untying’ (Matt 18:18). Many victims leave their churches and sometimes God. In his recent book, Introducing Christian Ethics: Core Convictions for Christians Today (Front Edge, 2022), David Gushee points to the inadequacy of this ‘biblical’ doctrine of forgiveness, and suggests broader ethical research into the subject. However, I believe that a re-reading of the texts from the historical critical method, may bring such necessary broadening. This article, then, reads Matthew chapters 18–19 as an extension of Mark 9–10, scrutinising in the process contemporary applications of these texts.

Gavriil Ivanovich Mazaev (1858–1937): A Shaper of Siberian Baptist Life

Constantine Prokhorov — 2024-12-20

The article describes the life and works of G. I. Mazaev (1858–1937), the founder and first chairman of the Siberian Baptist Union. The attractive image of a ‘Protestant saint’, a passionate preacher who converted thousands of people to God, is presented to readers today thanks to the surviving archival documents and numerous testimonies of contemporaries. Deprived of his fortune, freedom, and then life itself under Soviet rule, Mazaev kept his faith to the end.

Ukrainian Baptist Communities in an Orthodox Context: A Study of Church Relations Between 1917–2024

Roman Shvets — 2024-12-20

This article focuses on relations between Ukrainian Baptist and Orthodox churches from 1917 to the present day. It shows the shift from the position (specific to the time of the Russian Empire) when the two movements rejected each other, and from hatred and harshness towards Baptists on the part of Orthodoxy, to more positive dynamics, particularly in the context of the Soviet Union when, under communism, the Orthodox Church lost its position and became one among others persecuted by the State. More positive changes continued in the period after the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed and as Ukraine became an independent country. At the same time, the article argues that despite some good dynamics in relations, negative experiences for followers of both traditions still exist, which show the need for improvement in relations with each other. Baptists and Orthodox followers may still view each other as straying far from the truth and as in need of salvation.

Attitudes Towards Sexuality and Substances Among Young Canadian Baptists and Their Leaders: Exploring Personal, Psychological, and Religious Factors

Leslie Francis — 2024-12-20

This study explores the effect of personal factors (sex and age), psychological factors (psychological type and emotionality), and religious factors (intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation) on shaping attitudes towards sexuality and substances among young Canadian Baptists and their leaders. Data provided by 181 participants attending a summer youth mission and service programme demonstrated the centrality of intrinsic religiosity in shaping stricter attitudes within both moral domains. While young Baptists and their leaders shared similar positions and attitudes towards sexuality, young Baptists held stricter views than their leaders on substances.

Christological Laxity, Nicodemism, and Baptist Identity: A Reply to Stephen R. Holmes

Kegan A. Chandler — 2024-12-20

Stephen R. Holmes has argued that all early General Baptists were both unreflectively orthodox in their trinitarianism and insistent on orthodox Christology as a non-negotiable part of the Christian faith, promoting a relatively tranquil image of Baptist Christology prior to the 1690s debates surrounding Matthew Caffyn (1628–1714). Additionally, he has argued that General Baptist non-negotiables included orthodox Christology even in the 1690s, with latitude allowed merely in the language involved. He has also treated the case of Matthew Caffyn and any potential tolerance of his unorthodoxy as basically not representative of the Baptist tradition. In this article, I offer a response through an examination of Baptist treatment of unorthodox Christology from the movement’s beginnings to 1730; subsequently, I offer a view of the unorthodox nature of Caffyn’s Christology and an explanation of his behaviour (and that of his peers) during his theological interrogations. While Holmes paints Caffyn as a bold controversialist who would never hide his views, I offer an alternative account based on the then-current English trend of Nicodemism. The article concludes with a brief revisitation of Baptist identity in light of the preceding history.

In Gratitude for a Lack of Neglect: A Second Response to Kegan Chandler

Stephen Holmes — 2024-12-20

Stephen Holmes, responding to Kegan Chandler, first points out that continuing academic conversation is beneficial, even if authors do not agree in every aspect of interpretation and conclusion. Holmes agrees that European anti-trinitarianism before 1700 was not rationalist, but biblicist. Matthew Caffyn (1628–1714) fits into this pattern, even if it is debatable to what extent he can be described as ‘anti-trinitarian’. However, the author enters into further discussion on a number of topics concerning what it means to be (General) Baptist — in other words, what is the nature of a tradition — and he clarifies some interpretative claims in the light of understandings of Christian orthodoxy. A section in this article is devoted to Caffyn’s theological views, especially his Christology. Holmes hopes that his reflections at least clarify where he and Chandler disagree, and why. Holmes concludes, ‘The fact that there are scholars who care enough about Caffyn and the General Baptists to dispute interpretations, and journals that consider such disputes worth publishing, is a joy.’