Reading List
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Baptist Reading ListRecommended books and films on Baptists from McKee Library's collection.
Research and Reference
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Baptist: BritannicaBaptist, member of a group of Protestant Christians who share the basic beliefs of most Protestants but who insist that only believers should be baptized and that it should be done by immersion rather than by the sprinkling or pouring of water.
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Baptist: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on Baptists.
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Southern Baptist: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on Southern Baptists.
Internet Resources
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10 Facts About American BaptistsThe 1.3-million members and approximately 5,000 congregations of American Baptist Churches USA share with more than 42 million Baptists around the world a common tradition begun in the early 17th century. That tradition has emphasized the Lordship and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, believers’ baptism, the competency of all believers to be in direct relationship with God and to interpret Scripture, the importance of the local church, the assurance of freedom in worship and opinion, and the need to be Christ’s witnesses within society.
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American Baptist Churches USAAmerican Baptist Churches are missional congregations that nurture devoted disciples of Jesus Christ who live their lives in mission and ministry for the healing of the world through the love of God.
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Baptist Faith & Message 2000The 1999 session of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, adopted the following motion addressed to the President of the Convention.
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Baptist TheologyBaptists believe in the Bible as the ultimate authority, a regenerate and baptized church, the autonomy of the local church, and religious liberty for all.
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Southern Baptist ConventionThe SBC is a collection of like-minded churches working in cooperation with one another to impact the whole world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Perspectives
Baptists Through the Centuries
A clearly written introduction to the history and theology of this international people, Baptists through the Centuries provides a chronological survey of the main developments in Baptist life and thought from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. As Baptists spread globally beyond their British and American origins, Bebbington persuasively demonstrates how they constantly adapted to the cultures and societies in which they lived, generating even more diversity within an already multifaceted identity. In the course of telling the story of Baptists, Bebbington also examines the challenging social, political, and intellectual issues in Baptist historyâattitudes on race, women's roles in the church, religious liberty, foreign missions, and denominational identityâand situates each one within a broader context.
Baptist Beliefs
In this book, Dr. Mullins, honored Baptist scholar, does not set forth a formal creed, but rather gives a 'general survey of the beliefs commonly held by Baptists.' All of the great biblical doctrines, including the church and the ordinances, are given careful attention.
Baptist Faith in Action
Supplying a wealth of material from locales and a time for which few primary sources exist, Baptist Faith in Action brings to print the writings of Maria Baker Taylor (1813-1895), a strong-minded plantation mistress who spent her life in South Carolina and Florida. The granddaughter of Richard Furman, South Carolina's foremost nineteenth-century Baptist minister, Taylor was a well-educated and sophisticated member of South Carolina's second-tier planter class. She was also a most fervent Baptist. Notable for its geographical and temporal breadth, this collection of letters, diary entries, essays, and poems affords an unmatched view into the life of a woman living on the South's interior frontier during the nineteenth century. Born in Sumter County, South Carolina, Maria Baker married John Morgandollar Taylor in 1834. Throughout their marriage the couple lived on the geographical frontier, first in Beaufort District, South Carolina, and then in Marion County, Florida. The mother of thirteen children, Taylor taught her children and grandchildren at home, devoted large amounts of time to church work, and read voraciously. She also wrote voluminously, keeping diaries, exchanging letters, and occasionally publishing anonymous articles in Baptist publications. These writings document the spiritual life of an evangelical Baptist woman and explore the impact of the American Civil War on her world. Of particular interest, these writings reveal how Taylor's day-to-day experiences differed dramatically from the stereotypical image of southern plantation life.
Women Deacons and Deconesses: 400: 400 Years of Baptist Service (P321/Mrc)
Divided opinion on the topic of this book has caused controversy in Baptist history and life. Most Baptist individuals and churches have stronglyopposed women deacons. Some Baptist associations have even disfellowshipped churchesthat have approved women deacons. And women in general have been suppressed bymany recent actions of the Southern Baptist Convention, thereby affecting womendeacons. However, thousands of Baptist churches include women in their deacon bodiesand find that they make invaluable contributions. The book presents arguments on bothsides of the topic, but lands squarely in support of women deacons.
Time to Reconcile: The Odyssey of a Southern Baptist
This volume presents a redemptive account of a southern woman's struggle to free herself from the legacies of racial prejudice, parental domination, paternalism, and class-consciousness that had defined her life and constricted her thinking.
Streaming Media
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The Baptist ChurchIn this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Baptist churches with the Reverend Wallace Charles Smith, senior minister at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Topics of discussion include the core principles of individual soul liberty, congregant equality, and church autonomy; the right of every Baptist to interpret the Bible in his or her own way; the impetus of post-Civil War racism in the forming of African-American Baptist denominations; and the debate on whether the Baptist Church predates Catholicism or is a product of the Protestant Reformation. In addition, Shiloh Deacon James H. Grigsby III tours viewers through the church. (27 minutes)