Best baptist christianity books according to redditors
We found 55 Reddit comments discussing the best baptist christianity books. We ranked the 25 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 55 Reddit comments discussing the best baptist christianity books. We ranked the 25 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
>What on earth even is a helpmeet? Is it a religious thing?
Is a fundamentalist thing, usually Baptist, usually part of the "quiver full" movement, and almost always involved in homeschooling. The Duggar from the show 19 Kids and Counting are involved in it.
http://nogreaterjoy.org/blogs/createdtobehishelpmeet/
These people also be a book about raising children, whose methods have been linked to the deaths of least three children.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pearl#Controversy_over_To_Train_Up_a_Child
My ex wife and her family started to go down this path (and have continued to since our divorce). Thankfully I was able to get full custody of our children.
There's a great book written by a woman and her husband who escaped that lifestyle, if you are interested. It is very much a cult, and creepy as hell. I highly recommend this book, if you know anyone in that lifestyle or are curious about things like that.
I Fired God: My Life Inside---and Escape from---the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250026261/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_vIYvzbTX1XKD6
It's an anti-credal movement that claims to have restored New Testament Christianity. Mainline variety is Disciples of Christ, other varieties include Church of Christ and Christian Churches. Here is the wiki article.
Key distinctives:
This book is quite good for historical background.
Start here:
Read this:
Also see:
Has anyone read I Fired God? After reading it I wanted to find out more about the IFB so I did some digging online and was not happy about what I found. It seems like an awful church to belong to if you're a woman or a child and their track record with rape victims is horrifying.
Well, tell her to get use to drunken, lesbian sex while reading Hustler and Playgirl in the girls dorm. Seriously, that has to be one of the funniest and enlightening books I ever read about christian culture.
Currently reading:
The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology and it is very enlightening. I believe I fall in the 1689 Federalism camp, though I have not read much of NCT...
If you are looking for an alternative view of covenant theology found among many reformed baptists, check out [The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Distinctiveness-Baptist-Covenant-Theology/dp/1599253259)
Most noted covenant theologians will end up being Presbyterian or Lutheran, but I find the 1689 LBCF covenant theology view to be the most Biblical. Also, growing up dispensational, I bet you are a baptists. Great alternative to dispensational baptist view of scripture.
EDIT: great website to get you started is [1689 Federalism] (http://www.1689federalism.com/). Feel free to ask me any questions! This is a topic I really enjoy and have been studying regularly for a couple of years now
You might find this book interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Schizophrenic-Christianity-Christian-Fundamentalism-Sociopaths/dp/1499332858
And this from NPR in 2014: https://www.npr.org/2014/05/23/315129859/sex-abuse-allegations-getting-protestant-churches-to-come-clean
I hold to 1689. Came from hardcore dispensationalism (like, I've learned about the red heifer while in Israel), became convinced that there was no such thing as a rapture so I must be Historic Premill. From there, continued to study- I read Continuity and Discontinuity, landed in NCT and then sort of kept developing, then read From the Finger of God and was convinced of threefold division of the law (I had previously been convinced of the 3-covenant structure of Covenant Theology, but leaned Westminster because those were the only guys talking Covenant). Came across The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology, and it seemed more Biblical. So here we are.
Somebody else already suggested r/Reformed, but I'll suggest a couple of less known subs. There's r/ReformedBaptist and r/1689Federalism. They're both low traffic subs, and the latter has just recently started, but there's still some good info to look into there.
Right now is a pretty exciting time for Baptists due to the "rediscovery" of our Reformed/ Calvinist roots. It's difficult to find Baptist scholarship of this caliber, but some names to look for include Richard Barcellos, James Renihan, and Pascal Denault. Some historic names to look into are Benjamin Keach, William Kiffin, John Gill, William Gadsby, Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Pink, and James Petigrue Boyce.
One place I'd recommend starting from is some books. Like I said, Baptists haven't written on this stuff in a while, so there are no recent Systematic Theologies that I'm aware of. The closest you'll find is A Body of Doctinal Divinity by John Gill (PDF warning) or Abstract Of Systematic Theology by James Petigru Boyce. If you prefer hard copies, you can probably find them on Amazon.
Next, if you've been studying Reformed Theology, you should be aware that Baptists have their own distinct Covenant Theology that does not lead to Infant Baptism. It's really unfortunate that so many Baptists discover Covenant Theology and throw it away because it leads to Infant Baptism. In our development of Covenant Theology, called 1689 Federalism, we use the idea of the covenants to formulate "Believer's Baptism". There others who reject our 1689 Federalism for what is called New Covenant Theology, which attempts to bridge Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism. All of this can be found online at Wikipedia if you want to read more about it. There's also some scholarship available on the topic. The Distinctives of Baptist Covenant Theology by Pascal Denault is a wonderful book to get started on this subject.
Finally, I encourage you to read the historic Baptist confessions. You can find the 1689 LBCF here. It is based off of the Westminster Confession that the Presbyterians use. It's almost identical, except for a few changes of wording, and it's Congregationalist and Credobaptist affirmations. The Baptists of the 17th Century based their confession on the Westminster Standards to show their unity in Reformed doctrine. Although most Reformed Paedobaptists like to say that we're not "R"eformed, there is very little difference between us in the grand scheme of things, and Baptists holding to the 1689 LBCF and 1646 LBCF are always included in discussions relating to historic Reformed faith.
I understand there are Calvinists in the churches and pulpits, but official SBC (among others) teaching differs from Calvinism on those first two points explicitly.
https://www.amazon.com/Whosoever-Will-Biblical-Theological-Five-Point-Calvinism/dp/0805464166
(From my Baptist perspective)
I found this to be a great book to start with: https://www.amazon.ca/Covenant-Theology-Reformed-Baptist-Primer-ebook/dp/B00P72UWWM
This video and their others were quite good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lKe2VopL9k
Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper
She was a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, born into it, and participated wholeheartedly in its shenanigans for 25 years. Then she left.
As someone who also went through a rough deconversion experience (though from a denomination decidedly less whackadoodle than Westboro), I could relate to so much of what she wrote.
I advocate we add Keach's Catechism by Benjamin Keach and an Orthodox Catechism (1680) by Hercules Collins to our list of confessional documents, since they pretty widely used and/or respected by Reformed & Particular Baptists today.
Pascal Denault has a good smaller work, but I know there are people at the Institute for Reformed Baptist Studies who are currently working on more comprehensive systematic treatments :)
I'm sure you'll get sarcastic remarks about "just read the Bible" (which, as a Reformed Baptist [charismatic] I'd agree with) but I think you're looking for solid theological interactions on the issue. In some ways, I think these are good starter books for not only the issue at hand (baptism) but also how it fits within the larger theological vision of the Christian life and community. Baptism is one of those issues that, for being seemingly simple, reveals a great deal about how one understands the nature of faith, the entire Christian life, and the nature of the Gospel itself. Just taking a guess, but I assume you're approaching it from the sobriety that the issue deserves given your reading thus far, so I commend you for looking for further resources on the topic and continuing to read!
Here are a few that are good starters, and for more reading, I'd look to their bibliographies and footnotes.
Believer's Baptism - This is a good resource. There are a few points here or there where I'd disagree with various articles. I'd want to emphasize different aspects here or there, but especially at points where the covenants (Covenant Theology v. New Covenant Theology) becomes the issue. So, good starter, and the basic presentation of a thoughtful credo-baptist view.
The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology - Taking up that point of covenant theology, this is a very thorough book on how the covenants play within a Reformed Baptist view of baptism. Very good.
Covenant Theology: A Reformed and Baptistic Perspective on God's Covenants
Covenant Theology: A Reformed Baptist Primer
The Confessing Baptist - This is a website and podcast. A good resource for articles and podcasts on various issues related to Reformed Baptists.
If you're looking for one book, I'd go with Believer's Baptism, and supplement with materials available at The Confessing Baptist website. That'll get your versed in the logic of the credo-baptist position, and hopefully provide some good things to mull over.
Hope that helps!
Oh, goodness, depends on your area of interest! I liked American Protestsntism, but my real passion was early Christianity, especially the gospels excluded from the Bible.
Off the top of Mr head (and its been 30 years, so forgive me! This is good on American evangelical history The Great Awakening: A History of the Revival of Religion in the Time of Edwards and Whitefield
Also good in that area is The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America
A REALLY good way to find texts is to search for college/university syllabi which are usually on line now! For example, Dartmouth's Intro to American Religion is there, Rutgers' is online, etc.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to get recommendations from academic universities and courses, not church-based ones. You want to learn and engage with the material without having to deal with a school's or teacher's theology involved. You want information that isn't censored for theological reasons.
I LOVED my degree work, and the area is still a great passion of mine. Feel free to direct message me if I can be of any help. Check out some of the extra-biblical Gospels, like the Gospels of Mary, Thomas, etc. You'll delve into the politics of assembling the Bible and the reasons for excluding certain narratives (especially the equality of women and the aggressive social justice policies!). Love to chat about this stuff!
So you assume they are unreasonable and can't be changed and have their mind opened, just like they have certain assumptions about you? Sounds like both sides have some pretty strong biases and boxes they have put the other side in. But yeah, if that's your perception then I guess violence is the only answer for you.
But it honestly just sounds like you're just as much in need of a person to talk to and reason with as the racist guy in this video.
People can absolutely change, and be reasoned with, but yes, it does take more effort than throwing a punch does. I hope you can open yourself up to that possibility some day. If you're interested, below are a few suggestions of stuff to read/listen to by people who have been pulled back from, or pulled others back from, that kind of bias and racism.
Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper (or her [TED Talk] (https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_phelps_roper_i_grew_up_in_the_westboro_baptist_church_here_s_why_i_left.Megan/discussion))
NPR's Interview with a former Neo Nazi Christian Picciolini
NPR's Interview with Son of KKK Grand Wizard Don Black, Derek Black.
Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race, and America
I would say that a few books to maybe go through are The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement by Chute, Finn, and Haykin and Why I Am a Baptist by Moore, Nettles, Grudem, Mohler, and others. Both books are solid and easy reads, with the former covering more of the history as well as some of the Baptist distinctives, and the latter getting more doctrinal and also anecdotal.
If you want a book about Baptists theology more specifically Southern Baptist book check out Why I Am a Baptist by Tom J. Nettles
Probably. I'd recommend Renewing God's People by Foster and Holloway or Reviving the Ancient Faith by Hughes. The Foster book is a short read, and the Hughes book is pretty quick to get through also. All the authors are from Churches of Christ, but Foster in particular is an excellent historian. Foster has other brief books that go into detail about the other branches of the Stone-Campbell movement.
Another redditor has written a book Southern Baptists and Southern Slavery on the Southern Baptist Convention, which details how it was started by southern Baptists who split from their northern brethren over the issue of slavery. He submitted a posting here in /r/religion about his book. You can read the book online through the links on the left side of the home page for his website or it can be ordered from Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook here or in paperback form here.
For anyone who might not know, America's 39th president, Jimmy Carter was a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, though he was a member long after the church had given up its support for slavery. He disassociated himself from the Southern Baptist Convention in 2009 because of its sexist views regarding women.^1
There are not too many big name theologians who hold that view (actually, there aren't too many big name Reformed Baptists).
The best book that I have personally read on the topic is this book by Pascal Denault
This book I have not read, but I have heard really good things about. It's a compilation of different authors like Richard Barcellos, Jim Renihan, James White, Tom Hicks, etc.
Out of curiosity, why do you want modern?
I've been reading Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ recently. It might be the best book on CT from a baptistic perspective out there, though its 300+ years old. Alternatively The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology is excellently done, scholarly and modern. It can be a bit tedious, since it was originally written in French as a master's thesis.
From a presbyterian perspective, I read The Christ of the Covenants and found it excellent and winsome. A number of reformed colleges and seminaries use it as a textbook.
You should be able to get any of those from the Christian Book Nook, or I can lend them to you at church on Sunday if you'd rather save some cash.
I'm going speak up for strong language too with this one as I had been published because I did employ the f-strike. Let's not borrow our strong language from the Latter Day Saints. Warning: I am going to say FUCK in this comment and will defend this word because the author behind I Fired God it's a guess she found my roster at some point. She swears as hard as in The Pattern Of Diagnosis. Telling an Italian not to swear is rude to the culture as in telling them to watch their language they're going to be called a 'cazzo.'
I have been in this fight since I was 20 years old; as I had those pulling Fundie Copypasta because I had employed use of the f-bomb. I will message you in private because I had invoked a lot of controversy because the guys on Issue Five of my mag became the embodiment of the House Divided Speech.
My alumni are going to cause a real stir because he had this on his page; Habakkuk 2:2 as the King James Version. Tim blocked me from commenting because I said "fuck" in the comments.
And in this comment I am going to defend this word from other Christians because "fuck" has a history. I will provide my literary journals fifth issue to help you speak out against censorship and let's not hide behind Ephesians to be censorship advocates. Christians trying to speak out against the finger, as I am going to say that's telling the Greeks they don't give a shit about Ancient Greece or Philosophy. As I am about to invite everyone to read up because it's a guess that the Apostle Paul was given this gesture when he did Ephesians as I see young earth creationists with this statement on their facebook page.
>CUSSING, BLASPHEMY, and ABUSE WILL BE BANNED!
I guess he hasn't invoked cram it clownie or make the joke of being my first boy scout troop being the one who instigated the urban legend. Rebuking Hovind and the controversy I invoked when I did it was all for laughs. I have this petition which I started for The Boondocks creator; read the entire thing and look into the information I provided as I am defending the use of strong language. When one seen The Babylon Bee pull off some equally nasty barbs; as Fox News caught wind of them over the TBN barb. When one sees Paul Crouch showing the finger, then you see the barb as even funnier.
I don't know if you've read any about Spurgeon, but he has been very inspirational to me:
This book is supposed to be the best biography out there currently on Spurgeon, but I have not read it. There are others that are good too, like this one.
If I think of any other people I'll reply back.
I just started reading a book called I Fired God: My Life Inside---and Escape From---the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult by Jocelyn Zichterman. It was a recommendation from another girl who went to my boarding school. You might find it interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0096QZ4X2/ref=oh_d__o00_details_o00__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I do remember reading that there were several movements in the 1700's about Agape/Love feasts being reinstituted in several churches like the Church of the Brethren. And a lot of the people from the Restoration Movement grew up in church environments like that. But it was a while ago that I read that. I think it was the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0891121544/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thank you for your prayers. The few that knew what was going on were also on their knees.
When we got to this part of the elders meeting, I was prepared with my notes with the doctrinal issues that put me on the wrong side of the line the pastor had drawn. With some scriptural references with each point, so I wouldn't get lost.
Ironically, he bought a copy of Whosoever Will for all of us elders.
After I got through my points, (uh oh, poor choice of words?) I asked if these were not compatible with the new restrictions. I brought up things that have been said in the past, such as elect meaning you are only elect after you are saved, man is fully capable on his own to acquire salvation through faith that is his own, and not a gift from God, the atonement is fully unlimited.
I was respectful, know that this was going to be a sketchy discussion. I did not denigrate his beliefs, merely show the disparity between the two, so we could make all this clear. (Our doctrinal statement does not address "calvinist" issues. The new lines being drawn has only been taking place since January.) My intention was to make this clear, and ask the elders how they thought we could or should continue.
Before we could get to that point, the pastor became greatly agitated and stormed out, saying that we could fire him if we wanted. That sort of came from left field. I told the others that I did not want to see him fired, I was actually prepared to fire myself, to eliminate any disharmony in the leadership! I did resign, but the chairman refused to accept it, pending a meeting between the pastor and I. (That will be at 2pm today.)
At this point I am finished, my sole purpose is to mend fences with the pastor, and make sure there isn't anything personal left gumming up the works.
I honestly love this man. He has a heart for God, the church and the community and gives of himself repeatedly. But this new turn in his policy has built a wall where one hadn't existed before. I am 100% OK with the wall, even though I am on the outside now. As long as he defends his beliefs soundly and using scripture, I can continue to hold him in high regard. I just think he is making some mistakes trying to implement an agenda that only he is fully aware of.
When we meet, once we clear up any personal issues, I am going to give him my resignation, which must be accepted. I have great peace on that score.