Christian History and Denominations: The Anabaptists
Christian History and Denominations: The Quakers
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The Baptists constitute one of the larger Protestant denominations, with emphasis on the fact that only believers should be baptized and that this is done through the New Testament precedent of full immersion in water rather than the sprinkling or pouring of the water on the initiate.

Infant Baptism

Baptists reject infant baptism, maintaining that initiates must have freedom of thought and expression before deciding to be baptized and must already be believers. Being baptized is for the believer to share in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and must involve the transformation of oneself from his or her old life into a new one.

Pillar Beliefs

Alongside baptism, various other essential beliefs include the Bible being the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice; equality of all Christians in the life of the church; independence of the local church by not deriving its authority from any other source than Christ; and the separation of church and state on the grounds that true religious freedom must not have any outside interference. Church services include sermons based on the Bible, worship via prayer to God and signing hymns, and a monthly Communion. 

John Smyth and Thomas Helwys

The origin of the Baptists is usually attributed to John Smyth (1570–1612), a Separatist exile in Amsterdam. In 1609, he reinstituted the baptism of committed believers as the basis of the fellowship of a gathered church. The first Baptist church was located in England and comprised members of Smyth’s congregation who had returned to London in 1612 under the leadership of Thomas Helwys (c. 1550–c. 1616).

Helwys migrated to the Netherlands with Smyth in 1608 and became convinced ‘Infant Baptism’ was invalid. Returning to London in 1612, Helwys established the first General Baptist congregation. His Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1611–12) contained sentiments in favor of universal religious toleration.

Churches emerging through these efforts affirmed Arminian theology and soon became known as ‘General Baptists‘, who were in theological opposition to the ‘Particular Baptists’. The Particular Baptists emerged in 1633 across many parts of England and proposed Calvinistic interpretations of biblical scripture.

The Baptist Missionary Society was founded in 1792 and launched missionary expansion, focusing on other Protestant churches. By the nineteenth century, Baptists generally became less rigidly Calvinistic, and most of their churches opened their doors to all Christian believers. The number of Baptists declined markedly in the second half of the twentieth century.

Roger Williams

In the United States, Baptist principles were first put into place by Roger Williams (c. 1603–1683) with his 1639 establishment of the first Baptist Church. Although ordained in the Church of England, Williams sailed to North America in 1630 in search of religious liberty but instead discovered restrictions on religious freedom in Boston, leading him to set up a schismatic church.

He was told to leave Massachusetts and then made his home among the Indians outside the state. Williams founded a settlement he called ‘Providence’ in 1636, where within a few years he established the first Baptist Church and later returned to England. The widespread religious revival during the Great Awakening in the United States during the eighteenth century offered more ingredients for growth.

In 1834, a Baptist church formed in Hamburg, from which an extensive Baptist movement emerged in Continental Europe. Despite encountering persecution (e.g., under Tsarist Russia and the Soviet regime), the movement continued to grow, and today it numbers around one hundred million globally.

References

Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2020. Baptist. Britannica Academic.

Livingstone, E. A. 2013. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 ed.). Oxford University Press.

Louth, Andrew. 2022. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press.