J. M. Carroll (1) (1852–1931)

I am perplexed as to why this book was so influential amongst many Southern Baptists in the early twentieth century. It is poorly researched, poorly argued, and poorly written. The gist is what scholars call "Baptist successionism," the idea prevalent among some English-speaking Baptists that the Baptist churches were descended from underground groups reaching back through the ages to the time of Christ. Now, the English Baptist churches have pretty definite roots in the 1600s in England show more (see John Smyth and Thomas Helwys), though I do think that there may be some influence from the Anabaptists of the 1500s and maybe even the Waldensians that could be explored by scholars. But to say there is a connection between Baptists and the Cathars? Etc. It's an unsubstantiated stretch. First, the author, J. M. Carroll, does not even explain the theologies of the various groups he sees as underground Baptists: Montanists, Paulicians, Cathari, Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards, Hussites, and Anabaptists, etc. We know that the Cathars and Albigenses were Gnostic in their theology. Hus and Wycliff were not purveyors of underground traditions but pre-Luthers who rebelled against the Catholic Church. And so on. Carroll only blithely calls these groups proto-Baptists because they sometimes suggested credobaptism (instead of pedobaptism, i.e., infant baptism) and they defied the structure/government of the Catholic Church. With no deep dive into these shadowy groups, you can't call them Baptist forerunners. Secondly, if you want a book about the bloodlust of the Catholic Church (and other established, state churches) in hunting down heretics, there is much here for you. But, five million Christians deemed heretics killed in the Dark Ages? Probably not. And, lastly, the history here is suspect. Take this gem (p. 102 in my edition): "...the King of the Netherlands (the Netherlands at that time embracing Norway and Sweden, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark)...." What? There was never a time in history those nations were lumped together, much less under the title "the King of the Netherlands." And, the anecdote here (pp. 102-103), is probably fictional. Finally, the edition I read published by The Bible Nation Society (ISBN 9780998480435) in 2017 is riddled with spelling, punctuation, and formatting errors. It looks as if the publishing outfit slapped a bad O.C.R. text into a word processor and did only light editing and formatting. (Every time there was supposed to be an em dash and a quotation mark opening a quotation, e.g. —“, this edition has --”, like they didn't know how to insert an em dash or properly format a set of quotation marks.) A poor book all around. show less

This is a small booklet which is a handy reference for eventful dates in the history of the church. The author purports to establish 'The History of Baptist Churches From the Time of Christ, Their Founder, to the Present Day'. He lists those Biblical mandates which make a 'true' church, and lists those denominations which he calls 'erring', showing the history of each and when and where their errors began. At its bottom line, he seeks to remind his readers of two things: (1) that the history show more of the Baptist church is one of a continual line from the time of Christ, and that other denominations sprang up out of other religions, and (2) that the history of the Baptist church is one of persecution by other religions and other denominations.

There is a lot of church history crammed into this little booklet, and I found that fascinating reading. Though I don't agree with all his conclusions, I found this to be an interesting book. show less

This little book pretends to trace the history of Baptists back to the Apostiles; but to achieve this history, the authors must accept several groups and churches that are otherwise condemned as heritics.

A short understandable history of Baptists from the early days of Christianity. Very interesting and illuminating, and not something you see at Barnes & Noble!