Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The story of Baptist beginnings in Rhode Island through Roger Williams and John Clarke is a familiar one. The writer of this dissertation, while reviewing the early and familiar chapter of Baptist beginnings in America, concentrates upon the more recent and neglected period from 1825 to 1931. The result of the research is the first state history of Rhode Island Baptists. The principal primary sources for this study have been the annual minutes of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention; the yearbooks of the Warren, Providence, Narragansett, and Roger Williams associations; and the minutes of seven representative Baptist churches. State, city, and town histories have also been consulted as well as Rhode Island newspapers and contemporary Baptist magazines and journals. [TRUNCATED]

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Bibliography: pages 309-347. / In this thesis, privatization means the restriction of the Christian Gospel to the private, spiritual concerns of the individual. A privatised Gospel is a dualistic, individualistic, spiritualised, and a-contextual distortion of the Christian faith. It either deliberately avoids the public sphere or responds to it in an uncritical and ineffective manner, thus, it is vulnerable to manipulation by group interests. The term the "South African Baptists" includes the 19th century pioneers who formed the Baptist Union (BU) in 1877 and those Baptists who have since been either full members of the BU or Associations of it. It also includes those groups who have since broken away from the BU such as the Transkei Baptist Union and the Baptist Convention of Southern Africa. For reasons of space, this thesis concentrates on the white and African components of the South African Baptists. Chapter one provides an explanation of what is meant by privatization and who the South African Baptists are. Chapter two outlines and defends the sociological, historical and theological methodologies employed in the thesis. Chapter three elucidates the Reformation roots of the Baptist tradition and, in particular, the importance of the influence of the Anabaptist tradition. Chapter four shows that only certain of the more privatised English Baptist traditions have been stressed by South African Baptist writers, whilst the important elements of social involvement and radicalism have been ignored or neglected. The fifth chapter of the thesis argues that the 19th century South African Baptists perpetuated a Eurocentric and privatised form of the Christian faith and conformed to colonialism. Chapter six deals with the period between 1892-1977 and shows that despite their verbal censure of the government, the BU propagated segregation and white domination within its own structures. Chapter seven, reveals that whilst many within the BU have exhibited reactionary or reformist approaches, the Fellowship of Concerned Baptists and the Baptist Convention, in particular, have resisted the privatised theological praxis that has dominated the BU for so long. Chapter eight, finally, proposes that the Baptists learn from their past and develop a more holistic theological praxis.

This dissertation investigates the influence of western missionaries upon African Christians in general and more specifically, Baptists in Kenya. Of particular concern to this study is western influence on the concept and practice of Christian ministry in Kenya Baptist churches. It is asserted that western missionary influence has been negative upon Kenya Baptist churches in the concept of Christian ministry. Missionaries introduced a distinction between clergy and laity, emphasizing a ministry model of paid clergymen who dominate and drive their respective congregations. This contradicts clear New Testament teaching that every believer is a minister and is spiritually gifted to do Christian ministry in the context of the local church. Pastors are needed to equip and free church members to minister. Thus, it is concluded that Baptists in Kenya need to change from following missionary introduced patterns of Christian ministry to that which is spiritual gifts-based and lay dependent. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

The Way to True Excellence: The Spirituality of Samuel Pearce is a dissertation that seeks to understand why and how the late eighteenth century pastor, Samuel Pearce (1766–1799) was a model for spirituality. Pearce was the pastor of Cannon Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, England from 1790 until death in 1799. Pearce only lived to be thirty-three years old, but he had a very successful ministry in Birmingham, was sought after as a preacher through Great Britain, and was an integral part of the Baptist missionary movement that helped bring about a sea-change in evangelicalism. For decades after his death, John Ryland and other Baptist leaders referred to Pearce as the “seraphic Pearce.” One year after his death Andrew Fuller published Pearce’s memoirs, Memoirs of the late Rev. Samuel Pearce, and the latter became a model of eighteenth-century Baptist piety. In this thesis, three areas of his piety are examined against the backdrop of eighteenth-century evangelicalism: his preaching as a model for a spirituality of the word, his marriage and friendships as a model for a spirituality of love, and his commitment to the Great Commission as a model for a spirituality of mission. With the examination of these three areas, this thesis seeks to show to what extent Pearce’s spirituality captures the quintessence of late eighteenth-century Baptist spirituality.

Project report (D. Min.)--George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, 2002. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-121).

Abstract available in pdf file.

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This dissertation investigates the influence of western missionaries upon African Christians in general and more specifically, Baptists in Kenya. Of particular concern to this study is western influence on the concept and practice of Christian ministry in Kenya Baptist churches. It is asserted that western missionary influence has been negative upon Kenya Baptist churches in the concept of Christian ministry. Missionaries introduced a distinction between clergy and laity, emphasizing a ministry model of paid clergymen who dominate and drive their respective congregations. This contradicts clear New Testament teaching that every believer is a minister and is spiritually gifted to do Christian ministry in the context of the local church. Pastors are needed to equip and free church members to minister. Thus, it is concluded that Baptists in Kenya need to change from following missionary introduced patterns of Christian ministry to that which is spiritual gifts-based and lay dependent. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation argues that the writings of Hercules Collins demonstrate that he viewed himself as faithfully operating within both the historic Nicene-Christianity shown in the early creeds and the Protestant orthodoxy codified by the Westminster Assembly in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to the thesis of the dissertation and the methodology that is pursued in arguing for the thesis. In chapter 2, a biographical sketch of Collins is provided. The third chapter focuses on the orthodoxy of Hercules Collins. Collins' relationship to historic Christianity is demonstrated by showing the way he utilized the creeds of the early church and the writings of the Patristic era. In chapter 4, Collins' commitment to a Puritan/Protestant Evangelicalism is explored. Chapter 5 presents the Baptist ecclesiology of Hercules Collins. In the sixth and concluding chapter, the issue of Collins' significance is again explored by a summary of the evidence presented for his importance and ability to represent the broader Particular Baptist community of which he was a part.