Dictionary of Baptists in America

Description:

Missing dust jacket; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.1. Seller Inventory # G0830814477I5N01

About this title:

Synopsis: First in a series of concise dictionaries on various traditions in American Christianity, this comprehensive resource is an A-Z guide to the ideas, events, people, movements, practices, institutions, and denominations that have made up the Baptist tradition in North America, from its earliest days to the present.

From Booklist: This dictionary is intended as a guide to the largest Protestant religious tradition in America. Ideas, events, people, movements, traditions, institutions, and denominations are presented in 650 signed articles from more than 100 contributors, specialists in historical studies and related to Baptist institutions. Its primary focus is historical, with concentration on movements in the U.S.

The introductory essay, "The Baptists: A People, a History, and an Identity," provides a perspective on widely divergent Baptist beliefs, origins, and the 80 groups that call themselves Baptist. Twentieth-century issues, education, and future developments are considered. Asterisks throughout the essay refer to related articles, providing a subject approach to the alphabetically arranged material that follows.

The articles range from less than a column to several pages. Many have appended bibliographies. Some represent original research and correctives to previously published information. Articles include not only the prominent, but also the obscure. Scope is broad and detail rich: the long article Baptist Hymnody, the shorter one Sacred Harp. Contemporary issues are addressed: recent Southern Baptist controversies, emergent groups and institutions, some biographies of contemporaries. Such topics as Inerrancy Controversy and Racial Attitudes, Baptist are treated in a balanced fashion. Asterisks and see and see also references enable readers to move easily throughout the volume.

William Henry Brackney's The Baptists (Greenwood, 1988) would be a good companion to the dictionary. It consists of six essays on central principles of Baptist thought and a biographical dictionary of Baptist leaders. It is much less comprehensive. The only other encyclopedic reference on Baptists is the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists (4v., Broadman, 1958-82).

The Dictionary of Baptists in America is a convenient, well-organized, and thorough reference tool. Any interested audience, clerical or lay, Baptist or non-Baptist, will appreciate it. Recommended.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Dictionary of Baptists in America
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Publication Date: 1994
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Fair
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket