Baptists and the Kingdom of God: Global Perspectives

by T. Laine Scales (Editor), João B. Chaves (Editor)

Overview

Throughout the history of Christianity, the concept of the "kingdom of God" has been constructed and understood in a multiplicity of ways. From direct identifications of the kingdom with the church to purely eschatological notions to competing revolution-inspiring views of God’s reign, differing understandings of the kingdom engendered a rich variety of ideological frameworks, social arrangements, and historical actions.

The Baptist faith, with substantial worldwide numerical, cultural, social, and political power, has been the site of a number of approaches to the idea of the kingdom that informed its trajectory. Issues that transcended Baptist circles, such as slavery, foreign missions, and social activism, have significant connections to Baptist notions of God’s will and work in the world. The essays in Baptists and the Kingdom of God, written by scholars from several countries and disciplinary perspectives, approach the question of the kingdom under four major themes: ecclesial, eschatological, social, and providential. Considered as a whole, the volume illuminates historic and contemporary views of Baptists wrestling with ideas surrounding the kingdom concept, providing a unique resource for students and scholars of Baptist heritage and thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481317191
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2023
Pages:	365
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

T. Laine Scales is Professor of Social Work and advisor for part-time instructors at Baylor University.

João B. Chaves is Assistant Professor of the History of Religion in the Américas at Baylor University. He is also the author of Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Baptists and the Kingdom of God
David Bebbington

Part One: The Kingdom of God and Ecclesiastical Interpretations
Introductory Comments
Paul S. Fiddes
1. Collective Virtue and Baptist Ecclesiology
Meghan Byerly
2. What Does Leadership Look Like in the Kingdom of God?: "Serviceable Leadership" in Rauschenbusch’s The Social Principles of Jesus (1916)
Michael Whiting
3. "For the Extension of Christ’s Kingdom": Australian Baptist Missionary Women in East Bengal, 1901 to 1945
Rebecca Anne Hilton
Part Two: The Kingdom of God and Eschatological Interpretations
Introductory Comments
Jeanette Mathews
4. Baptist Legacies in Latin America: Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, and Changing Views of God’s Kingdom across Borders
Ivan Dias da Silva
5. Contingency, Joy, and the Kingdom of God: Theological Reflections on the Relationship between Divine and Human Joy
Aidan Luke
6. Millennial Eden?: Baptist Postmillennialism and the Shaping of the Australian Dream
Nicole Starling

Part Three: The Kingdom of God and Social Interpretations
Introductory Comments
Terry G. Carter
7. The Kingdom of God: A Dangerously Powerful Challenge to Oppression
Stephanie Peek
8. Slavery, Justice, and the Kingdom of God: Mapping Baptist Hermeneutics in the Atlantic World
Ryan J. Butler
9. "Scotching Some Myths": Apartheid, Baptist Distinctives, and the Search for Social Concern
Myra Ann Houser
10. "Wonderfully Ecumenical"?: The SBC Christian Life Commission, the Mainline, and 1960s Social Concern
Skylar Ray

Part Four: The Kingdom of God and Providential Interpretations
Introductory Comments
Roger Ward
11. Kingdom-Shaped Apologetics: Making Apologetics Accessible to All
Seidel Abel Boanerges
12. Baptist Perspectives on Freedom and the Kingdom of God
Joshua T. Searle

Afterword
Seeking the Kingdom of God: With Mind and Heart
Karen Smith
About the Contributors
About the Editors

What People are Saying About This

Adam C. English

Baptists and the Kingdom of God converges on a provocative, theologically rich, morally compelling, and yet often misunderstood biblical theme: the kingdom of God. This powerful Gospel idea stands at the intersection of four distinct conversations about the shape of Baptist ecclesial identity, the eschatological hope for God’s reign, the moral impulse to social action, and the providential perspective on the historical process and God’s action. With each chapter laser-focused on the concept of the kingdom of God, this volume both contributes to and creates a new conversation for the global Baptist community.

Jennifer Garcia Bashaw

The pluriform writings assembled in this collection illuminate contemporary and historical Baptist ideas about the kingdom of God and much more. The interconnected perspectives provided by these global scholars illustrate what it means to be 'baptist'. Many of the essays build on strong biblical foundations although each views the Scripture through different hermeneutical lenses. Some of them attend to theological principles and some to more practical concerns, but all of them help readers to better understand history—not just the white, Western history that has dominated Baptist education, but history that recounts long-silenced voices and oft-ignored experiences. Brazilian Baptists, aboriginal peoples, women missionaries, South African Baptists during apartheid, postcolonial interpreters, Baptist pioneers of social justice who fought slavery and racism—all of these perspectives come together not only to demonstrate what the kingdom has been in Baptist thought and practice but what a future for Baptists could look like if we learned from and built upon our underexplored history.

Steven R. Harmon

The 'kingdom of God' has figured prominently in the biblical vocabulary of Baptists since their beginnings, helping them give utterance to the contrast with the kingdoms of the civil order that marks this distinctive Christian tradition. But as the essays in this groundbreaking volume demonstrate, Baptists have spoken this language of Zion with different accents that reveal the theological diversity of the people called 'Baptist'. This volume is a contribution to scholarship on Baptist identity unparalleled in the literature.