| The course will be organized around themes that Baptists claim are their identity, the time periods in which these themes emerge and what happened in practice. Development is not linear, nor is it an algebraic equation. There are multiple contributing factors that need to be examined at every turn of the road. Some examples of themes are: 17th century, believer’s baptism/priesthood of the believer; 18th century, religious liberty/priesthood of the believer/autonomy of the local congregation; 19th century, Mission sending organizations/splintering; 20th century, Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy in two parts; 21st century, what will survive and what is next. |
