History of the English Calvinistic Baptists 1791-1892, FROM JOHN GILL TO C.H. SPURGEON
The aim of this book is to trace the story of the English Calvinistic Baptists from the death of John Gill in 1771 to that of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in 1892. It deals not only with the well-known figures in this community’s history- theological giants like John Gill, Andrew Fuller, William Gadsby, and Charles Spurgeon–but also with lesser-known lights–men like the hymn writer Benjamin Beddome, the eccentric John Collett Ryland, Abraham Booth, and John Stevens. Wide and deep reading in the writings of these men has given Dr. Robert Oliver an excellent grasp of their various theological perspectives.
No Christian community is without its controversies and the Calvinistic Baptists in the period covered by this book are no exception. Even-handedly and with one eye always on the Calvinistic Baptist roots in the seventeenth century–well summed up by The Second London Confession of Faith–the author details the controversies that at times wracked this community. Who may take the Lord’s Supper? What is the role of the law in the Christian life? Is there biblical warrant for making free offers of the gospel to all and sundry? None of these issues are minor matters and should not be ignored by Christians today. The thinking of these Baptist worthies is therefore still of great value.
Unlike some contemporary historians, Robert Oliver is rightly convinced that the development of the Strict and Particular strand of this community in the nineteenth century is not a stagnant backwater that is best forgotten. Even though the churches of this persuasion were not as balanced as their seventeenth and eighteenth-century forebears, there was a spiritual vitality to this group that needs remembering and Oliver has given us a rich overview of the thought and activities of these English Calvinistic Baptists.
Publisher: Banner of Truth
Type: Hardback
ISBN: 9780851519203
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Robert W. Oliver was born into a Christian home in Bethersden Kent, England in 1936. From infancy he was brought up to attend the local Particular Baptist Chapel with which his mother s family had been associated since the early nineteenth century. Converted through family and church teaching in childhood he was baptized in 1954 at the Bethersden Church. He was by this time conscious of a call to the Christian ministry and entered upon a part time pastorate in Cheltenham 1964 1967. His thinking had been profoundly influenced by the teaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones while a student in London and thus had moved from the original Hyper-Calvinism in which he had been reared. In 1971 he commenced a pastorate at the Old Baptist Chapel, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. This continued until retirement in 2006. During this pastorate he completed a research course leading to a PhD through the London Bible College. On completion he was asked to be lecturer in Church History and Historical Theology at the London Theological Seminary, a post he continues to hold.
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Robert Oliver has served up a treat for his readers. Developed with additional chapters from his PhD. thesis, the book is very readable, containing fifteen concise chapters, which are both stimulating and fascinating...It is not a comprehensive history of Calvinistic Baptists. Rather, he deals skilfully with the theological and doctrinal issues which led to the emergence of Strict and Particular Baptist churches in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the process he gives us valuable insights into the character and spiritual vigour of the men involved in these matters. The reader is introduced to such key issues as Antinomianism, the atonement, Hyper-Calvinism and the ‘free offer,’ the communion controversy (over a closed or open table), and the eternal Sonship dispute. Names such as John Gill, Andrew Fuller, Abraham Booth, William Huntingdon, William Gadsby, John Stevens, J. C. Philpot and C. H. Spurgeon are prominent. However, considerable attention is also devoted to less well-known men such as Benjamin Beddome, John Collett Ryland, Robert Hall Sr. and Jr., Joseph Kinghorn and James Wells...We are indebted to Robert Oliver for this book. He has researched thoroughly, read widely and deeply, and assessed the issues biblically. There are extensive footnotes and a bibliography together with three indices of places, names and subjects. This book should be a source of enjoyment, understanding and wisdom not only for Baptists but for all who have any interest in the spirituality of the men and churches of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Austin Walker