Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #242228 in Books
• Published on: 1973-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

Excellent, Accurate Baptist History
Mr. Torbet has done an excellent job detailing the often misunderstood history of the Baptists. His comments are supported by numerous references and sources so that the serious student may research his conclusions on their own. The history of Baptists, as shown by the author, did not begin in the Reformation, but their roots go back to the first Baptist baptizing in the Jordan River. Mr. Torbet traces the roots of the Baptists through the Montanists, Novatians, Paulicians, Anabaptists and others, who though not called Baptist by name, hold the same historical doctrinal beliefs as today's Baptists. This is an excellent book for anybody searching for a credible Baptist history book without the modern leanings toward ecumenicalism.

Must read for students of church history
First of all, I don't know what book the reviewer from South Carolina read. Torbet distances himself from so-called Baptist successionism in the very first chapter of the book. He traces the developement of the modern Baptist church to the Particular Baptists in England.

This is an outstanding overview of not only the history of the denomination, but the developement of the "Baptist Distinctives" that set Baptists apart from other evangelical denominations. There is a rich history behind the Baptist church -- it is unfortunate that the Trail of Blood advocates have clouded that heritage in questionable historiography.

If you want to know what the truth is behind the Baptist church's history, read this book -- not Carroll's fantasy work.

Comprehensive and dated
Tolbert's book is comprehensive and does a good job of overviewing Baptist groups in Europe and North America. The book is dated and does not include any of the important developments among American (Northern) Baptists and Southern Baptists of the past 25 years.

Tolbert seems to write from a northern perspective and seems to view Southern Baptist history from a distance fueled by a distaste for the American South and a lack of understanding of the deep role Southern culture has among Southern Baptists.

Difficult to read and unnecessarily repetitious in his history, Tolbert's is still a standard in Baptist history. Though Leon McBeth's history is more readable, it is also much more liberal in its leanings and transparent in his opinions and perspectives, hurting the contribution in his monumental work. Thus, Tolbert remains the standard in Baptist history.