The Free Will Baptists - (America's Baptists) by J Matthew Pinson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book represents the first scholarly treatment of the Free Will Baptists, a small but important denomination. Pinson places the Free Will Baptists into proper contexts, both here in America and in Europe, as well as engages with primary sources that have not been extensively used before. While there has been some historical writing on Free Will Baptists, most of the work that has appeared has been written by institutional insiders and is of little interest outside the denomination. Pinson's manuscript offers a true synthesis that will enable scholars of religion to gain insight into this not-widely known group"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In this scholarly treatment of a lesser-known denomination, J. Matthew Pinson offers a comprehensive history of the Free Will Baptist movement--a distinct theological tradition within the larger Baptist family.

Traversing four centuries of history in his analysis, Pinson divides his study into five parts, arranged in chronological and geographical order. He traces the beginnings of the Free Will Baptists in the Carolinas from the late 1600s; the denomination's early expansion across the Southeast; the rise and decline of the Northern Freewill Baptists; and the identity and development of the Free Will Baptist movement into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The scarcity of archival evidence for the history of Free Will Baptists in the American South makes the chronicling of their history challenging. To illustrate the development of ideas within the tradition over time, Pinson creatively engages a unique combination of primary source materials, including general conference and local church minutes, confessional documents, and worship materials such as hymnals. A scholarly history as accessible as it is comprehensive, The Free Will Baptists: A New History is a valuable resource for students of religious history as well as Baptist historians.

About the Author

J. Matthew Pinson is president and professor of historical theology at Welch College. He is author of Arminian and Baptist: Explorations in a Theological Tradition and editor of Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation by F. Leroy Forlines.