The Bible in the Baptist Tradition

The Bible and Baptist Tradition surveys the ways in which Baptists have engaged with the Bible as a source of authority. That engagement has sometimes taken the form of ＂proof-texting＂ the Bible to support beliefs that Baptists ＂know＂ to be true. At times, that engagement is a struggle to come to terms with the ＂plain meaning＂ of Scripture that challenges those well-worn assumptions of Truth. Mikael Parsons and Douglas Weaver begin with the basic question of what defines Baptist identity. With over four centuries of history, the following themes emerge in the Baptist story: freedom of conscience, believer’s baptism and believer’s church, soul competency and local church independence, assertions of the sole authority of the Bible rather than adherence to creeds, and the interplay of personal/communal experience, the Bible, and the Spirit. Wherever the experience of freedom is central to identity, diversity of expression is sure to follow. This book traces the role the Bible has played in the formation of Baptist creeds and confessions, the struggle to come to terms with the challenges of higher criticism in biblical studies, and the impact of the Bible on issues of gender, race, and sexuality. The study includes a Baptist-specific interpretation of a particularly important passage in the tradition: Acts 2 and the account of Pentecost and Peter’s sermon. Throughout their history, Baptists have grappled with the lively dynamic of personal and communal experience and biblical authority. These are their stories.

C. Douglas Weaver is Chair of the Department of Religion and Barbara Jo Beard Driskell Professor in Historical Studies at Baylor University. He has served as president of the Baptist History and Heritage Society and the National Association of Baptist Professors in Religion. Selected publications include William Marrion Branham, The Healer-Prophet; In Search of the New Testament Church, The Baptist Story; Baptists and the Holy Spirit: The Contested History with the Holiness-Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements.

Mikeal C. Parsons is the Kidd L. and Buna Hitchcock Macon Chair in Religion at Baylor University, where he has taught since 1986. He has authored or edited over thirty books and numerous articles and essays. His publications include: Paideia commentaries on Luke and Acts (Baker Academic); with Heidi J. Hornik, Illuminating Luke trilogy (T&T Clark/Continuum) and Acts Through the Centuries (Blackwell’s); with Michael Martin, Ancient Rhetoric and the New Testament (Baylor University Press). In 2018, Parsons received the John G. Gammie Distinguished Scholar Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies. That same year, he was recognized as Baylor’s URSA Undergraduate Mentor of the Year. In 2023, Parsons was selected to be Baylor’s Inaugural University Distinguished Professor.