andygoodliff

British Baptists and the Old Testament

British Baptists have a long history of producing internationally-renowned Old Testament scholars.

H. H. Rowley, Assistant lecturer in Semitic Languages in University College, Cardiff (1930-1935), Professor Semitic Languages, University College of North Wales, Bangor (1935-1945), Professor of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Manchester (1945-1959). Author of The Missionary Message of the Old Testament (1944), The Biblical Doctrine of Election (1950), The Unity of the Bible (1953)

Theodore Henry Robinson Baptist minister and Professor of Semitic Languages, Cardiff (1927-). Author of Prophecy and the Prophets in Ancient Israel (1923)

Henry Wheeler Robinson Baptist minister and Principal of Regent's Park College, University of Oxford (1920-1942).

G. Henton Davies (DD, Glasgow, 1958) Baptist minister and Tutor in Hebrew and Old Testament Studes, Bristol Baptist College (1938-1951), Professor of Old Testament, Durham (1951-1958) and Principal of Regent's Park College, University of Oxford (1958-1974)

Ronald Clements (PhD Sheffield, 1961) Baptist Minister and Lecturer in Old Testament, Edinburgh (1960-1967), Lecturer in Old Testament, Cambridge (1967-), Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament, King's College London (1984-1992). Author of Prophecy and Covenant (1965), Wisdom in Theology (1996)

Rex Mason (PhD King's College London 1973) Baptist minister and tutor in Old Testament, Spurgeon's College London (1964-1975), Lecturer in Old Testament, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford (1975-1983). Author of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (1977), Micah, Nahum and Obadiah (1991), Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Joel (1994)

Paul Fiddes (DPhil Oxford, 1976, DD 2004) Principal of Regent's Park College, University of Oxford (1989-2007), Professor of Systematic Theology, Oxford (2002-) Author of '"Where Shall Wisdom be Found?" Job 28 as a Riddle for Ancient and Modern Readers', in After the Exile: Essays in Honour of Rex Mason (1996)

Ernest Lucas (PhD Liverpool 1989) Baptist minister and tutor in biblical studies, Bristol Baptist College (1994-). Author of Exploring the Old Testament: Psalms and Wisdom (2003)

Deborah Rooke (DPhil Oxford 1996) Lecturer in Old Testament, Lampeter (1995-1998), Lecturer in Old Testament, King's College London (1998-). Author of Zadok's Heirs: The Role and Development of the High Priesthood in Ancient Israel (2000)

Nathan MacDonald (PhD Durham 2001) Lecturer in Old Testament, St. Andrew's. Author of Deuteronomy and the Meaning of ‘Monotheism’ (2003).

British Baptists and the New Testament

George Beasley-Murray (PhD King's College London, under R.V.G. Tasker, 1952), Baptist minister and Principal of Spurgeon's College (1958-1973), James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-1980). Author of Baptism in the New Testament (1962), Jesus and the Coming of God (1986), John (Word Biblical Commentary, 1988)

Ralph P. Martin (PhD King's College London, 1963), Baptist minister and Tutor in New Testament, London Bible College (1959-1965), Lecturer in New Testament, Manchester (1965-), Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary (1969-1988), Distinguished Scholar in Residence (New Testament), Fuller Theological Seminary (1996-). Author of Reconciliation (1981), 2 Corinthians (Word Biblical Commentary, 1987), Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon (Interpretation Bible Commentaries, 1991)

Leonard G. Champion (DTh Heidelberg), Baptist minister and Principal of Bristol Baptist College (1953-1972)

Max Turner (PhD Cambridge, 1980), Baptist minister and Lecturer in New Testament, London Bible College (1974-1987), Lecturer in New Testament, Aberdeen (1987-1991) Professor of New Testament, London School of Theology (1998-). Author of Power from on High: The Spirit in Israel's Restoration and Witness in Luke-Acts (1996) and The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts: In the New Testament Church and Today (Rev ed. 1996)

John Morgan-Wynne (PhD Durham, under James Dunn 1987) Baptist minister and Tutorial Fellow of New Testament at Regent's Park College, University of Oxford, Principal of Bristol Baptist College (1987-1994). Author of Holy Spirit and Religious Experience in Christian Literature ca. AD 90-200 (2006)

Larry Kreitzer (PhD King's College London, under Graham Stanton, 1986), Baptist minister and Lecturer in New Testament, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford (1986-)  Author of Jesus and God in Paul's Eschatology (1987) and 2 Corinthians (1996)

R. Alastair Campbell (PhD King's College London, under Graham Stanton, 1993), Baptist minister and Tutor in New Testament, Spurgeon's College London (1987-2000), Lecturer in Biblical Studies at the United Theological College of the West Indies, Jamaica. Author of Elders: Seniority in Earliest Christianity (1994) and The Story We Live By (2004)

Andrew D. Clarke (PhD Cambridge, 1992), Senior Lecturer in New Testament, Aberdeen. Author of Serve the Community of the Church (2000), Secular and Christian Leadership in Corinth (2006), A Pauline Theology of Church Leadership (2008)

Sean Winter (DPhil Oxford, under NT Wright on Philippians, 1998), Baptist minister and Tutor at Northern Baptist College, Manchester (2000-). Author of More Light and Truth? (2007)

Simon Woodman (BA Sheffield, MLitt Bristol), Baptist minister and Tutor at South Wales Baptist College (2004-). Author of Revelation (2008)

British Baptist Theologians 9: George Beasley-Murray

George Beasley-Murray is probably the most famous British Baptist theologian of the 20th Century. He specialised in New Testament studies and wrote an influential book on baptism in the New Testament.

Born 10 October 1916

MTh King's College London
PhD King's College London (1952)

Tutor in New Testament, Spurgeon's College (1950-1956)
Professor of Greek and New Testament, Baptist Theological Seminary, Ruschlikon (1956-1958)
Principal, Spurgeon's College (1958-1973)
James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, South Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-1980)

Died 23 February 2000

Major Publications

___ Jesus and the Future: An Examination of the Criticism of the Eschatological Discourse, Mark 13, with special Reference to the Little Apocalypse Theory (Macmillan, 1954)
___ Baptism in the New Testament (Macmillan, 1962)
___ Baptist Today and Tomorrow (Macmillan, 1966)
___ The Book of Revelation (New Century Commentary, Oliphants, 1974)
___ Jesus and the Kingdom of God (PAternoster, 1986)
___ The Gospel of John (Word Biblical Commentary, Word Books, 1988, 2nd ed. 1999)
___ The Gospel of Life: Theology in the Fourth Gospel (Hendrickson, 1991)

For more See Fearless for the Truth: A Personal Portrait of George Beasley-Murray by Paul Beasley-Murray (2002, Paternoster)

British Baptist Theologians No. 8: Brian Haymes

Brian Haymes has been an important figure in Baptist life over the last twenty years. He has principal of two Baptist colleges and written regularly on Baptist identity.

1986-1994 Principal of Northern Baptist College
1994-2000 Principal of Bristol Baptist College
2000-2005 Minister, Bloomsbury Baptist Church

Major Publications

'On Being the Church' in A Call to Mind: Baptist Essays towards a Theology of Commitment, pp.55-67 (Baptist Union, 1981)

'Covenant and the Church's Mission' in Bound To Love: The Covenant Basis of Baptist Life and Mission, pp.63-75 (Baptist Union, 1985)

A Question of Identity: Reflections on Baptist Principles and Practice (Leeds, 1986)

The Concept of the Knowledge of God (Palgrave Macmillan, 1988)

'Baptism as a Political Act' in Reflections on the Water, pp.69-84 (ed.) Paul Fiddes (Smyth and Helwys, 1996)

with Paul Fiddes, Richard Kidd and Michael Quicke, Something to Declare: A study of the Declaration of Principle jointly written by the Principals of the Four English Colleges in Membership with the Baptist Union (Whitley, 1996)

with Paul Fiddes, Richard Kidd and Michael Quicke, On the Way of Trust. Jointly written by the Principals of the Four English Colleges in Membership with the Baptist Union (Whitley, 1997)

(ed.) with Roger Hayden, Bible, History and Ministry: Essays for L.G. Champion on his Ninetieth Birthday (Bristol, 1997)

'Theology and Baptist Identity' in Doing Theology in a Baptist Way, pp.1-5 (ed.) Paul Fiddes (Whitley, 2000)

'The Moral Miracle of Faith' in Dimensions of Baptism. Biblical and Theological Studies, JSNT Supplement Series 234, pp.325-332 (eds.) Anthony Cross and Stanley Porter (Sheffield Academic Press, 2002)

'Making Too Little and Too Much of Baptism' in Ecumenism and History: Studies in Honour of John H. Y. Briggs, pp.175-189 (ed.) Anthony Cross (Paternoster, 2002)

'Towards a Sacramental Understanding of Preaching' in Baptist Sacramentalism, pp.263-270 (eds.) Anthony Cross and Philip Thompson (Paternoster, 2003)

'On Religious Liberity: re-reading A Short Declaration of Iniquity in London in 2005', The 2007 Baptist Historical Society's Annual Lecture, Baptist Quarterly 42.3 (2007)

(ed.) with Anthony Cross and Ruth Gouldbourne, On Being the Church: Revisioning Baptist Identity (Paternoster, forthcoming)

catholic-minded baptists: a transatlantic conversation?

Curtis Freeman, research professor of theology and baptist studies, duke divinity school posted a comment last week saying hello. Curtis is part of a growing group among US baptists who are becomming more catholic-minded. You can find some of curtis' papers here. He's put me in touch with one blog run by some of his students called mere faith, which looks good and also a website/blog called Summa Aesthetica. Let me encourage you british baptists to check them out and see what transatlantic conversations we can have.

Others in the catholic-minded baptists are steve harmon, elizabeth newman and philip thompson. See especially Steve Harmon's Towards Baptist Catholicity (2006).  Elizabeth  Newman has just published Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers, which sounds really good.

In the UK, with John Colwell describing himself as a 'catholic' baptist and others like Steve Holmes, Nigel Wright, Chris Ellis and Paul Fiddes probably not adverse to it either ... this all bodes well for the future of baptist theology and life.

British Baptist Historians

Engaging with baptist theology also means engaging with baptist history. The following people are the leading British baptist historians (some are currently a little short on info). Baptist Quarterly is the journal for those interested in baptist history and the baptist historical society is the academic home of those interested in baptist history and heritage in Great Britain.

Ian Randall -
(Spurgeon's College bio, International Baptist Theological Seminary bio).
One of the current leading british baptist historians. Ian is deputy principal and lecturer at Spurgeon's College London as well as being senior research fellow at IBTS. He has published widely on baptist history as well as evangelical history.

Selected Publications:
Evangelical Experiences: A Study in the Spirituality of English Evangelicalism, 1918-1939 (Paternoster, 1999) - this is a version of 1997 PhD.
Educating Evangelism: The Origins, Development and Impact of London Bible College (Paternoster, 2000)
The English Baptists of the Twentieth Century (Baptist Historical Society, 2005)
'A Mode of Training: A Baptist Seminary's Missional Vision', Transformation: An International Journal of Holisitic Mission Studies, Vol 24.1 (2007)

Professor John H. Y. Briggs -
He is currently editor of the Baptist Quarterly and senior research fellow in church history and directors of the centre for baptist history and heritage at Regent's Park College, Oxford. He is the past chairman of the Baptist World Alliance's Baptist History and Heritage Commission

Selected Publications:
The English Baptists of the Nineteenth Century (Baptist Historical Society, 1994)
'British Baptists and the beginnings of the Baptist World Alliance', Baptist Quarterly, Vol 41.1, Jan 2005
(ed.) Pulpit and People: Studies in Eighteenth-Century English Baptist Life and Thought (Paternoster, forthcoming 2007)

See also Ecumenism and History: Studies in Honour of John H.Y. Briggs, ed. A. Cross (Paternoster, 2002)

Ernest Payne (1902-1980)
He was a former president of the World Council of Churches, a former general secretary of the BUGB, a former president of baptist historical society.

Selected Publications:
The Fellowship of Believers: Baptist Thought and Practice Yesterday and Today (2nd ed., 1952)
The Baptist Union. A Short History (1959)

See also To be a pilgrim: a memoir of Ernest Payne by W M S West (Lutterworth Press, 1983)

Barry R White (1934-) -
He was principal at Regent's Park College, Oxford (1972-1989) and then Senior Research Fellow in Ecclesiastical History, also at Regent's Park (1989-1999)

Selected Publications:
The English Baptists of the Seventeenth Century (Baptist Historical Society, 2nd rev. ed., 1996)

See also Pilgrim Pathways: Essays in Baptist History in Honour of B. R. White, eds. Paul Fiddes, John H. Y. Briggs, W. H. Brackney (Mercer University Press, 2000)

Karen Smith -
tutor in church history, South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff

Selected Publications:
'The Covenant Life of Some Eighteenth-Century Calvinistic Baptists in Hampshire and Wiltshire' in Pilgrim Pathways, Essays in Baptist History in Honour of B.R. White, pp.165-183, (eds.) W.H. Brackney and Paul Fiddes, (Mercer University Press,1999)
'British Women and the Baptist World Alliance', Baptist Quarterly, Vol 41.1, January 2005
'Forgotten Sisters: The Contributions of Some Notable but Un-noted British Baptist Women' in Recycling the Past or Researching History? - Studies in Baptist Historiography and Myths,  (eds.) Philip Thompson and Anthony Cross (Paternoster, 20o5)

Roger Hayden
currently the president of the baptist historical society

Selected Publications:
English Baptist History and Heritage (BUGB, rev. ed., 2005)

Continuity and Change: Evangelical Calvinism among eighteenth-century Baptist ministers trained at Bristol Academy, 1690-1791 (Baptist Historical Society)

Raymond Brown is a former principal of Spurgeon's College, London

Selected Publications:
The English Baptists of the Eigtheenth Century (Baptist Historical Society, 1986)

See also the work of Anthony Cross, especially Baptism and the Baptists (Paternoster, 2000) and Paul Fiddes, especially Tracks and Traces (Paternoster, 2003).

British Baptist Theologians No. 7: Robert Ellis

Rob Ellis is the the Principal of Regent's Park College, Oxford (2007-). Previously Rob was tutor in pastoral studies. After taking his doctorate in theology at Oxford, Rob was minister of baptist churches in milton keynes and bristol. He has taught previously taught at bristol baptist college. He is the moderator of the BUGB ministry executive. His older brother is another baptist theologian Chris Ellis. His major publication is Answering God: towards a theology of intercession, which is a version of his DPhil.

Selected Publications:

___ 'How Relative Should Theology Be?', Baptist Quarterly 29.5: 220-224, January 1982
___'God and Action', Religious Studies 24:463-482 (1989)
___'The Vulnerability of Action', Religious Studies 25:225-233 (1990)
___ 'Covenant and Creation' in Bound for Glory? God, Church and World in Covenant, pp.20-33, ed. Anthony Clarke (Whitley, 2002)
___ 'Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy: The Pastor and the suffering God', Transformation, Vol. 22, 2005
___ Answering God: Towards a Theology of Intercession (Paternoster, 2005)
___ 'Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Reading Films' in Flickering Images, pp.7-24, eds. Anthony Clarke and Paul Fiddes (2005)
___ 'Pondering Providence: Sliding Doors' in Flickering Images, pp.137-148, eds. Anthony Clarke and Paul Fiddes (2005)
___ 'And the Life Everlasting: A Theological Reflection on Death and Dying, Transformation, Vol. 24, 2007

A-Z of UK baptist blogs

Here's the A-Z of all uk baptist blogs I know. Anyone I missed?

Alan Mair (harrogate bpatist church)

Andy Amos (wakefield baptist church)

Andy Goodliff (bunyan baptist, stevenage / regent's park college)

Andy Scott (hanbury hill baptist church)

Angela Almond (kirby muxloe)

Bob Almond (kirby muxloe)

Brodie McGregor (queen's park baptist church, glasgow)

Catriona Gordon (hugglescote baptist church)

Christopher Luff (wycliffe baptist church, colchester)

David Lewis (hutton and shenfield union church)

Geoff Colmer (regional miniser, CBA)

Glen Marshall (northern baptist college)

Graham Bell (prison chaplain)

Graham Doel (stanley road baptist church)

Graham (kings heath baptist, northampton)

Jim Gordon (scottish baptist college)

Jonathan Langley (Baptist Times)

Jonathan Somerville (bromley baptist, london)

Julie (Revmusings) - (Leicester)

Keiza Lama (wakefield baptist church)

Lucy Wright (ministerial student, bristol baptist college)

Marcus Bull (trinity church, rawdon)

Michael Bird (highland theological college)

Nigel Coles (regional minister, WEBA)

Paul Lavender (tanterton christian fellowship, preston)

Pete Leveson (london baptist association)

Richard Pool (cotton end baptist church, bedford)

Richard Jevons (cottingham road baptist church, kingston-upon-hull)

Sean Winters (northern baptist college)

Serena Snape

Simon Jones (bromley baptist church, london)

Steve Holmes (st. andrew's university / st. andrew's baptist church)

Stuart Blythe (scottish baptist college)

Stuart Jenkins (ikley baptist church)

Tim Hyde (st. helen's baptist church)

Trevor Coultart (bunyan baptist, stevenage)

British Baptist Theologians No. 6: Anthony Cross

Update: Anthony trained at Bristol and Cardiff baptist colleges. Most of Anthony's work is now with Paternoster and he has been responsible for the explosion in Baptist academic publishing over the last 5 years or so (thanks Sean). Anthony has also been intergal in the re-discovery of baptist sacramentalism (see the book he edited and a sequel out soon, plus Colwell's Promise and Presence) (thanks Graham).

I don't know much about Anthony Cross and can't find much out about him either. He is a Fellow of the Centre of Baptist History and Heritage, Regent's Park College, Oxford and has edited a number of books in the Baptist History and Thought series. His own contribution is a look at baptism in the 20th century according to baptists.

Selected Publications

___ (eds.) with Stanley Porter, Baptism, New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White, JSNTSup. 171, (1999, Sheffield Academic Press)
___ '"One Baptism" (Ephesians 4.5): A Challenge to the Church', Baptism, New Testament and the Church, pp.173-209 (1999, Sheffield)
___ 'Service to the Ecumenical Movement: The Contribution of British Baptists, Baptist Quarterly 38.3:107-22 (1999)
___ Baptism and the Baptists: Theology and Practice in Twentieth-Century Britain , Studies in Baptist History and Thought Vol 3 (2000, Paternoster)
___ 'Baptists and Baptism: A British Perspective', Baptist History and Heritage 35.1:104-21 (2000)
___ 'Dispelling the Myth of English Baptist Baptismal Sacramentalism', Baptist Quarterly 38.8:367-91 (2000)
___ (eds.) with Stanley Porter, Dimensions of Baptism. Biblical and Theological Studies, JSNT Supplement Series 234 (2002, Sheffield Academic Press)
___ (ed.) Ecumenism and History. Studies in Honour of John H.Y. Briggs (2002, Paternoster)
___ 'Baptism, Christology and the Creeds in the Early Church: Implications for Ecumenical Dialogue' in Ecumenism and History (2002, Paternoster)
___ (eds.) with Philip Thompson, Baptist Sacramentalism, Studies in Baptist History and Thought Vol 5 (2003, Paternoster)
___ 'The Pneumatological Key to H. Wheeler's Baptismal Sacramentalism' in Baptist Sacramentalism (2003, Paternoster, pp151-176)
___ (eds.) with David Bebbington, Baptist Identities. International Studies from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Centuries (2003, Paternoster)
____ (eds.) with Stanley E. Porter, Semper Reformandum: Studies in Honour of Clark H. Pinnock (Paternoster, 2003)
___ 'Being Open to God's Sacramental Work: A Study in Baptism' in Semper Reformandum (Paternoster, 2003, pp355-377)
___ 'Faith-Baptism: The Key to an Evangelical Baptismal Sacramentalism', Journal of European Baptist Studies 4.3:5-21 (2004)
___ (eds.) with Alan Sell, Protestant Non-Conformity in the Twentieth Century (2005, Paternoster)
___ (eds.) with Philip Thompson, Recycling the Past or Researching History?, Studies in Baptist History and Thought Vol 11 (2005, Paternoster)
___ 'The Myth of English Baptist Anti-Sacramentalism' in Recycling the Past or Researching History? (2005, Paternoster)

___ The Evangelical Sacrament: Reforming Baptism. Friends of Bloomsbury Inaugural Lecture Saturday 26 May 2007

___Recovering the Evangelical Sacrament: Baptisma Semper Reformandum (Paternoster, 2009)

British Baptist Theologians no. 5: Chris Ellis

Chris(topher) Ellis was until recently Principal of Bristol Baptist College (2000-2006) and has over a number of years written about and developed a Baptist understanding of worship. He studied theology at Regent's Parl College, Oxford. He is the former moderator of the Faith and Unity Executive of the Baptist Union, a member of the Worship and Spirituality Commision of the BWA and a former member of the Joint Liturgical Group of Great Britian.

Selected Publications:

___ 'Relativity, Ecumenism and the Liberation of the church', Baptist Quarterly 29: 81-91 (1981)
___ Together on the Way: A Theology of Ecumenism (1990, British Council of Churches)
___ 'Believer's baptism and the sacramental freedom of God' in Reflection on the Waters, pp.23-45, (ed.) P. Fiddes, (1996, Smyth & Helwys)
___ Baptist Worship Today. A report of two worship surveys undertaken by the Doctrine and Worship Committee of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (1999, BUGB)
___ 'A view from the pool: Baptists, sacraments and the basis of unity', Baptist Quarterly 39: 107-20, (2001)
___ 'The baptism of disciples and the nature of the church' in Dimensions of Baptism: Biblical and Theological Studies, (eds.) S. Porter and A. Cross (2002,. Sheffield Academic Press)
___ Gathering: A Theology and Spirituality of Worship in Free Church Tradition (2004, SCM)
___ 'Gathering Struggles: Creative Tensions in Baptist Worship', Baptist Quarterly 42.1 (2007)