Baptists

تعود جذور الكنائس المعمدانية إلى المنشقين الإنجليز في إنجلترا خلال القرن السابع عشر، أي بعد 75 عامًا من تأسيس كنيسة إنجلترا ، وذلك خلال الإصلاح البروتستانتي الإنجليزي . ^{[ 9 ]} يُعد هذا التصور لأصول المعمدانية الأكثر دقة تاريخيًا والأكثر قبولًا على نطاق واسع. ^{[ 10 ]} لقد كان ذلك زمنًا مضطربًا سياسيًا ودينيًا. وكان الأفراد والكنائس على استعداد للتخلي عن جذورهم اللاهوتية إذا اقتنعوا باكتشاف "حقيقة" أكثر توافقًا مع الكتاب المقدس. ^{[ 11 ]}

خلال عصر الإصلاح، انفصلت كنيسة إنجلترا ( الأنجليكان ) عن الكنيسة الكاثوليكية الرومانية . لم يكن بعض المسيحيين راضين عن إنجازات الإصلاح البروتستانتي السائد. ^{[ 4 ] [ 12 ]} كما شعر بعض البروتستانت بخيبة أمل لأن كنيسة إنجلترا لم تُصحح ما اعتبره البعض أخطاءً وتجاوزات، وكانوا الأكثر انتقادًا لتوجه الكنيسة. عُرف هؤلاء باسم " المتشددين ". كان معظم المتشددين في القرن السادس عشر ملتزمين بالنهج التقليدي، وبقوا في الكنيسة الأنجليكانية، وسعوا إلى إحداث تغييرات بناءة من الداخل. بينما غادر متشددون آخرون الكنيسة الرسمية بسبب هذا الاستياء، وعُرف هؤلاء باسم الانفصاليين أو المنشقين أو غير الملتزمين. ^{[ 6 ]}

في عام ١٥٧٩، أسس فاوستوس سوسينوس جماعة الإخوة البولنديين الموحدين في بولندا وليتوانيا ، التي كانت دولة متسامحة. كان الموحدون يعلّمون المعمودية بالتغطيس . بعد طردهم من الكومنولث عام ١٦٥٨، فرّ كثير منهم إلى هولندا. هناك، عرّف الموحدون طائفة المينونايت الهولندية على معمودية التغطيس . ^{[ ١٣ ]}

Baptist churches have their origins with John Smyth, Thomas Helwys, and John Murton in the Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic.^[14][15][16] Because they shared beliefs with the Congregationalists, they went into exile in 1608 with other believers who held the same positions.^[17] They believe that the Bible is to be the primary guide and that credobaptism is what the Bible teaches.^[18] In 1609, the year considered to be the foundation of the Baptist tradition, these exiled Dissenters baptized believers and their church became the first Baptist church.^[19][20]

In 1609, while still there, Smyth wrote a tract titled "The Character of the Beast". In it he expressed two propositions: first, infants are not to be baptized; and second, unbelievers are to be admitted into the true Church by baptism."^[11] Hence, his conviction was that a scriptural church should consist only of regenerate believers who had been baptized confessing faith and past sins. They rejected the doctrine of infant baptism.^[21][22]

Shortly thereafter, in 1610, Smyth was expelled from the church.^[6] Ultimately, Smyth became committed to believers' baptism as the only biblical baptism. He was convinced on the basis of his interpretation of Scripture that infants would not be damned if they died in infancy.^[23] Smyth, convinced that his self-baptism was invalid, applied with the Waterland Mennonites for union. He died before achieving it, and some of his supporters became Mennonites. Helwys and Murton others kept their commitment to credobaptism that would originate in the Baptist tradition.^[23] The modern Baptist denomination is an outgrowth of the Amsterdam English church.^[12] Baptists rejected the name "Anabaptist" (literally, 're-baptizer') when they were called that by opponents in derision because they considered Anabaptists as heretics. McBeth writes that as late as the 18th century, many Baptists referred to themselves as "the Christians commonly—though falsely—called Anabaptists."^[24]

Helwys took over the leadership, leading the church back to England in 1612, and he published the first Baptist confession of faith: the Helwys Declaration of Faith, or "A Declaration of Faith of English People", in 1611.^[25] He settled the church in Spitalfields, East London, in 1612. it became known as the first General Baptist church^[26]

Another milestone in the early development of the Baptist tradition was in 1638 with John Spilsbury, a Calvinist minister who later helped to promote the practice of baptism by immersion (as opposed to affusion or aspersion).^[10] According to Tom Nettles, professor of historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, "Spilsbury's cogent arguments for a gathered, disciplined congregation of believers baptized by immersion as constituting the New Testament church gave expression to and built on insights that had emerged within separatism, advanced in the life of John Smyth and the suffering congregation of Thomas Helwys, and matured in Particular Baptists."^[10]

A minority view is that early 17th century Baptists were influenced by or even directly connected to continental Anabaptists.^[27] Representatives of this theory include A.C. Underwood and William R. Estep. Gourley writes that among some contemporary Baptist scholars, who emphasize the faith of the community over soul liberty, the Anabaptist theory is making a comeback.^[6] This view was also taught by the Reformed historian Philip Schaff.^[28] According to this view, Baptists shared common beliefs and practices with Dutch Waterlander Mennonites (one of many Anabaptist groups) including believer's baptism, belief in religious liberty and church-state separation, and similarities on soteriology.

It is certain that the Baptists in the Dutch Republic had contacts with the Mennonite Anabaptists, and John Smyth later even joined the Anabaptist movement, while those who remained as Baptists did so under Thomas Helwys. However, although it is possible that Helwys was subordinately influenced by Dutch Anabaptism, he still rejected multiple of their doctrines such as Melchiorite Christology and had a more high role for the civil magistrate. However, any influence Helwys and the General Baptists could have had would not necessarily translate to influence on Reformed Baptist theology, as although they share the same name, they are often viewed as having a distinct origin. Nevertheless, some historians have proposed for some Anabaptist influence on Reformed Baptists in addition to General Baptists, such as by proposing influence from a natively existing English Anabaptist population, rather than from Dutch Anabaptists. It has been sometimes speculated that a natively existing Anabaptist population in England gave rise to multiple English dissenting groups, including Particular Baptists. It has been noticed that there is some evidence for a native English Anabaptist population, and some historical records refer to two Anabaptists that were executed in England under Henry VII in 1575. However, many historians dismiss any links between the particular Baptists and Anabaptists, and there does not exist explicit evidences of Anabaptist influence on Particular Baptists.^[29]

Despite this, relations between Baptists and Anabaptists were early strained, which makes it difficult to support the Anabaptist view consensually. In 1624, the five existing Baptist churches of London issued an epistle of anathema to the Anabaptists for what they considered heresies,^[30] and throughout the centuries Baptists strongly rejected the nomenclature of "Anabaptist". Furthermore, the Gainsborough church exiled in Amsterdam, under Helwys' leadership, rejected unification with the Waterlander Anabaptists after a brief period of association; and Helwys exposed negatively their beliefs and practices, considering them as heretical.^[31] Nonetheless, many modern Baptists have much more positive views of Anabaptism, emphasizing the agreements in many core areas of theology.^[32]

Traditional Baptist historians write from the perspective that Baptists had existed since the time of Christ.^[33] Proponents of the Baptist successionist or perpetuity view consider the Baptist movement to have existed independently from Roman Catholicism and prior to the Protestant Reformation.^[34] This view has been characterized as "apologetic and polemical" and "without consideration of a critical, scientific methodology".^[35]

The perpetuity view is often identified with The Trail of Blood, a booklet of five lectures by James Milton Carroll published in 1931.^[34] Other Baptist writers who advocated the successionist theory of Baptist origins are John T. Christian and Thomas Crosby.^[34][36] This view was held by English Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon^[37] as well as Jesse Mercer, the namesake of Mercer University.^[38] In 1898 William Whitsitt was pressured to resign his presidency of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for denying Baptist successionism.^[39]

In 1612 Helwys returned to England and settled the Amsterdam church in London, to support the Puritan reforms. A number of Nonconformist Baptist churches were formed, and they became known as the General Baptists. The Particular Baptists were established when a group of Dissenters adopted credobaptism in the 1630s.^[40] The Particular Baptists consisted of seven churches by 1644 and had drafted up a confession of faith called the First London Confession of Faith.^[41] Many Particular Baptists are now called Grace Baptists.

يُنسب الفضل إلى كل من روجر ويليامز وجون كلارك، كلٌ على حدة، في تأسيس أقدم الكنائس المعمدانية في أمريكا الشمالية. ^{[ 42 ]} في عام 1638، أسس ويليامز كنيسة معمدانية في بروفيدنس، رود آيلاند ، وأسس كلارك كنيسة معمدانية أخرى في نيوبورت، رود آيلاند . ووفقًا لمؤرخ معمداني بحث في هذا الموضوع باستفاضة، "دار جدل واسع على مر القرون حول ما إذا كانت كنيسة بروفيدنس أم نيوبورت تستحق لقب "أول" جماعة معمدانية في أمريكا. وتفتقر السجلات الدقيقة لكلا الجماعتين." ^{[ 9 ] [ 43 ]}

أدت الصحوة الكبرى الأولى في أربعينيات القرن الثامن عشر إلى تنشيط المعمدانيين، حيث شهدوا نموًا مذهلاً. وأصبح المعمدانيون أكبر جماعة مسيحية في العديد من الولايات الجنوبية، بما في ذلك بين السكان السود المستعبدين. ^{[ 5 ]}

بدأ العمل التبشيري المعمداني في كندا في مستعمرة نوفا سكوتيا البريطانية (نوفا سكوتيا ونيو برونزويك حاليًا ) في ستينيات القرن الثامن عشر. ^{[ 44 ]} أول سجل رسمي لكنيسة معمدانية في كندا كان لكنيسة هورتون المعمدانية (وولفيل حاليًا) في وولفيل ، نوفا سكوتيا، بتاريخ 29 أكتوبر 1778. ^{[ 45 ]} تأسست الكنيسة بمساعدة المبشر هنري ألين، أحد دعاة حركة النور الجديد . بعد وفاته، اعتنق العديد من أتباع ألين المذهب المعمداني، مما عزز الوجود المعمداني في منطقة المحيط الأطلسي. ^{[ 46 ] [ 47 ]} شكلت مجموعتان رئيسيتان من المعمدانيين أساس الكنائس في المقاطعات البحرية . عُرفتا باسم المعمدانيين النظاميين (الكالفينيين في عقيدتهم) والمعمدانيين ذوي الإرادة الحرة (الأرمينيين في عقيدتهم). ^{[ 46 ]}

In May 1845, many Baptist churches in the South of United States seceded from the Triennial Convention, the national Baptist organization established in 1814, over slavery. The Home Mission Society prevented slaveholders from being appointed as missionaries.^[48] These churches founded their own convention: the Southern Baptist Convention. The Triennial Convention remained mostly (though not entirely) northern in composition. The Triennial Convention was reorganized in 1907 as the now called American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA).^[49] In 2015, Baptists in the U.S. number 50 million people and constitute roughly one-third of American Protestants.^[50]

The first Baptist church in Hamburg, known as the Union of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany, was founded by the German missionary Johann Gerhard Oncken in 1834.^[51][52] Founded in 1849, the Union of United Congregations of Baptized Christians in Germany and Denmark merged in 1942 with the Union of Free Church Christians, which originated in the Brethren movement, and thereby took its present name.^[53] According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 786 churches and 75,767 members.^[54]

The Evangeliumschristen-Baptisten ('Evangelical Christians-Baptists') are mostly of Russian-German origin. They were formed in 1944 from the merger of Evangeliums-Christen with the Baptists.^[55] Later, other evangelical free churches joined them. In contrast to their Eastern European countries of origin, no unified union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists was founded in Germany. Some of the newly formed congregations have come together in congregational associations such as Bruderschaft der Freien Evangeliums Christen Gemeinden ('the Brotherhood of Free Evangelical Christian Congregations') or the Arbeitsgemeinschaft evangelikaler Gemeinden ('Working Group of Evangelical Congregations'). Another part is connected with German Baptists through the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Evangeliumschristen-Baptisten in the Union of Evangelical Free Churches or is united with Mennonite Brethren congregations in the Bund Taufgesinnter Gemeinden ('Union of Baptist-Minded Congregations'). In addition, there are also congregations outside of congregational associations. The congregations in the Bund Taufgesinnter Gemeinden ('Union of Baptist-Minded Congregations'; BTG) have partly Baptist, partly Mennonite roots. The federation was formed in 1989 from the merger of originally six Baptist-oriented congregations, which were primarily located in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The BTG has about 6000 members spread over 30 congregations. The Bibelseminar ('Bible seminary'), the theological training center of this association of congregations, is located in Bonn and offers a regular study program as well as a theological correspondence course and a theological evening school.^[56]

The International Baptist Convention goes back to church plantings by American soldiers. In Germany, 25 English-speaking congregations belong to it. From its beginnings in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, a loose working group was formed in 1958, the Association of Baptists in Continental Europe, which was joined by other congregations and, from 1961, supported by the North American congregational association of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1964, the Association adopted its current name.^[57]

كان الواعظ كارل جاستن ماتياس مولرسفارد أول من بشّر بتعاليم المعمدانية في فنلندا، وأشعل شرارة نهضة دينية، إلا أنه لم يمكث طويلًا بسبب معارضة شديدة. ^{[ 58 ] [ 59 ] [ 60 ]} ومع ذلك، استمرت الحركة في النمو. في عام 1855، عاد أحد سكان جزر أولاند من ستوكهولم ومعه مواد عن معتقدات المعمدانية كتبها القس اللوثري السابق أندرس ويبرغ . ألهم هذا الأمر المزارع يوهان إريك أوستلينغ للسفر إلى ستوكهولم في العام التالي والتعميد، ليصبح بذلك أول معمداني فنلندي. ^{[ 60 ]} أُجريت عدة معموديات في فوغلو، بجزر أولاند، في العام التالي؛ وانضم هؤلاء إلى أولئك الذين سبق لهم التعميد في السويد لتأسيس أول كنيسة معمدانية فنلندية في فوغلو عام 1856. ^{[ 61 ]}

Lutheran priest Henrik Heikel, who spoke with the Baptists to learn more about their beliefs, played a key role in the church's spread.^[60] Heikel moved to mainland Finland with his family in 1860. Pedersöre in Ostrobothnia was to become their home as he was installed as priest of the Lutheran church there. The family maintained contact with the Baptists in Åland; after his death in 1867, his son Viktor and daughter Anna were baptized as Baptists by Wiberg in Stockholm. Their conversions led to many more after Anna returned with literature and began to hold meetings. The family received a visit from a Baptist pastor, Adolf Herman Valén, who had been at the hearing with Heikel ten years earlier; they held meetings together and his preaching led to more conversions to the movement. He was the first Baptist to preach on the mainland. The first Baptist baptisms on the mainland were performed the same year, with Maria Ekqvist and Petter Stormåns being the first to be baptized.^[60][62] The movement continued to grow in the following years and a Swedish-speaking congregation was founded in Jakobstad (Finnish: Pietarsaari), near Pedersöre, in 1870, by thirteen people including four members of the Heikel family.^[58][63] That year, the Conventicle Act was also repealed in Finland. (In 1891 the Jakobstad Baptist church underwent a split due to differing views, particularly over open or closed communion.)^[64] Ostrobothnia has since remained a hub of the Baptist movement in Finland. Today, the only two Swedish-speaking Baptist churches outside the region are located in Helsinki and Karis.^[58]

لم تستغرق الحركة المعمدانية وقتًا طويلًا للوصول إلى السكان الناطقين بالفنلندية. كان بعض الذين تعمّدوا في أوستروبوثنيا ثنائيي اللغة، فبدأوا بالوعظ باللغة الفنلندية، مؤسسين بذلك عدة كنائس ناطقة بها. وكان هنريك نارس، من بورمو ، أحد هؤلاء الوعاظ. في عام ١٨٧٠، قام بحارٌ يُدعى هنريكسون، لا يتحدث إلا الفنلندية، بالتبشير في ريف ساتكونتا جنوب غرب فنلندا بعد اعتناقه المسيحية في إنجلترا. ويعود أصل جماعة لوفيا المعمدانية بالقرب من بوري (بالسويدية: بيورنبورغ )، التي يعود تاريخها أيضًا إلى عام ١٨٧٠، إلى جهوده. ^{[ ٦٠ ]} وفي عام ١٨٧١، ترك جون هيماندير، وهو أيضًا ناطق بالفنلندية، والذي كان كاهنًا في الكنيسة اللوثرية لمدة ٤٠ عامًا، منصبه في باريكالا في جنوب كاريليا ، واعتمد على يد المعمدانيين في ستوكهولم. كان معروفًا بعلاقته الودية مع عائلة هيكل. وسرعان ما انضمّ العديد من أفراد عائلة هيماندير إلى المعمودية، وأُسست كنيسة معمدانية في باريكالا عام ١٨٧٢. ^{[ ٦٠ ] [ ٦٥ ]} ثمّ أُسست كنائس معمدانية أخرى ناطقة باللغة الفنلندية في يورفا (١٨٧٩)، وتوركو (١٨٨٤)، وكوبيو (١٨٨٦)، وتامبيري (١٨٩٠)، وإيليستارو (١٨٩٤). ^{[ ٦٦ ]} وتأسس الاتحاد المعمداني الفنلندي رسميًا عام ١٩٠٣. ^{[ ٦٧ ]}

كان القس إريك جانسون شخصية محورية في انتشار الكنيسة بدءًا من ثمانينيات القرن التاسع عشر. بعد انضمامه إلى كنيسة المبشر دوايت إل. مودي في شيكاغو ، عاد جانسون إلى فنلندا وانضم لاحقًا إلى الكنيسة المعمدانية عام ١٨٨١. أصبح راعيًا لكنيسة بيتالاكس المعمدانية ، التي بلغ عدد أعضائها في بعض الأحيان أكثر من ٤٠٠ عضو، وعمّدت ١٠٠٠ شخص. ^{[ ٦٠ ] [ ٦٨ ]} بعد أن دعم المعمدانيون السويديون أعمال التنمية في فنلندا بشكل حصري خلال العقود القليلة الأولى، ساهمت جمعية الإرساليات الداخلية التابعة للكنائس المعمدانية الأمريكية في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية ماليًا بدءًا من حوالي عام ١٨٨٩. ^{[ ٦٩ ]}

وفقًا للإحصاءات الديموغرافية الصادرة عن هيئة الإحصاء الفنلندية ، بلغ عدد المعمدانيين في فنلندا 2305 في نهاية عام 2024. ^{[ 70 ]}

The Baptist churches in Ukraine were preceded by the German Anabaptist and Mennonite communities, who had been living in southern Ukraine since the 16th century, and who practiced adult believer's baptism.^[71] The first Baptist baptism (adult baptism by full immersion) in Ukraine took place in 1864 on the river Inhul in the Yelizavetgrad region (now Kropyvnytskyi region), in a German settlement. In 1867, the first Baptist churches were organized in that area. From there, the Baptist tradition spread across the south of Ukraine and then to other regions as well.

One of the first Baptist communities was registered in Kyiv in 1907, and in 1908 the First All-Russian Convention of Baptists was held there, as Ukraine was still controlled by the Russian Empire. The All-Russian Union of Baptists was established in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro) in southern Ukraine. At the end of the 19th century, there were between 100,000 and 300,000 Baptists in Ukraine.^[72] An independent All-Ukrainian Baptist Union of Ukraine was established during the brief period of Ukraine's independence in early 20th-century and once again after the fall of the Soviet Union, the largest of which is currently known as the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine. Prior to its independence in 1991, Ukraine was home to the second largest Baptist community in the world, after the United States, and was called the "Bible Belt" of the Soviet Union.^[73]

Since there is no hierarchical authority and each Baptist church is autonomous, there is no official set of Baptist theological beliefs.^[108] These differences exist among associations and even among churches within the associations. Some doctrinal issues on which there is widespread difference among Baptists are:

• Number of sacraments or ordinances, variously including Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Feetwashing, and Headcovering^[1][2][3]
• Eschatology
• Arminianism versus Calvinism (General Baptists uphold Arminian theology while Particular Baptists teach Calvinist theology).^[7]
• The doctrine of separation from "the world" and whether to associate with those who are "of the world"
• Belief in a second work of grace, i.e. entire sanctification (held by General Baptists in the Holiness tradition)
• Speaking-in-tongues and the operation of other charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit in the charismatic churches^[109]
• How the Bible should be interpreted (hermeneutics)
• The extent to which missionary boards should be used to support missionaries
• The extent to which non-members may participate in the Lord's Supper services
• Which translation of Scripture to use (e.g., King James Only movement)^[110]
• Dispensationalism versus Covenant theology
• The role of women in marriage
• The ordination of women as deacons or pastors.^[111]
• Attitudes to and involvement in the ecumenical movement.
• The role of repentance and perseverance in salvation (Lordship salvation controversy).^{[112][113][114][115]}
• How to distinguish the persons of the trinity (social trinitarianism and classical trinitarianism).^[116]

Excommunication may be used as a last resort by some denominations and churches for members who do not want to repent of beliefs or behavior at odds with the confession of faith of the community. When an entire congregation is excluded, it is often called disfellowship.^[117]

Most Baptist associations in the world only support marriage between a man and a woman.^[118]

Some Baptist associations allow local churches to decide about blessings of same-sex marriage, such as the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms,^[119] the American Baptist Churches USA, the Progressive National Baptist Convention (USA), the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (USA), the National Baptist Convention, USA, the Baptist Union of Great Britain,^[120][121] the Open Baptists Association (Australia) ^[122]

Some inclusiveProgressive Baptist associations support blessings of same-sex marriage, such as the Alliance of Baptists (USA), the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (USA),^[123] the Aliança de Batistas do Brasil,^[124] the Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba,^[125] and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (international).^[96]

Many churches promote virginity pledges to young Baptist Christians, who are invited to engage in a public ceremony of sexual abstinence until Christian marriage.^[126] This pact is often symbolized by a purity ring.^[127] Programs like True Love Waits, founded in 1993 by the Southern Baptist Convention, have been developed to support the commitments.^[128]

General Baptists are Baptists who hold to the doctrine of general atonement, believing that Jesus Christ's vicarious death was an atonement for all humanity—not only for the elect. The first credobaptists in England and Wales were General Baptists. The General Baptists wished further reformation in the Church of England. They produced the Standard Confession of Faith, in 1660, and the Orthodox Creed, in 1679.

Later, General Baptists became very ecumenical, especially with the Anglican Church, and approached the Classical Arminiansoteriology under Thomas Grantham's influence.

Free Will Baptists in the United States are a sub-group within the General Baptist strand.^{[129][130][131]}

The Particular Baptists or Reformed Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists are Baptists who hold to the Calvinistic view of salvation.^[132] Depending on the denomination, Calvinistic Baptists adhere to varying degrees of Reformed theology, ranging from simply embracing the Five Points of Calvinism, to accepting a modified form of federalism; all Calvinistic Baptists reject the classical Reformed teaching on infant baptism. While the Reformed Baptist confessions affirm views of the nature of baptism similar to those of the classical Reformed, they reject infants as the proper subjects of baptism.^[133]

In distinction to the General Baptists who emphasized separation from the Church of England, many Particular Baptists sought more ecumenism.^[134] They produced the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.

Primitive Baptists are a type of Calvinist Baptists who adhere to some type of Reformed beliefs, who came out of the controversy among Baptists on the use of mission boards, tract societies and temperance societies.^[135][136] Primitive Baptists reject some elements of classical Reformed theology, such as infant baptism, and avoid the term "Calvinist".^[136] They are still Calvinist in the sense of holding strongly to the Five Points of Calvinism and they explicitly reject Arminianism.^[136][137] They are also characterized by "intense conservatism".^[138][139]

The Missionary Baptists were a group of Baptists that came from the missionary controversy in the United States, where the Missionary Baptists supported the usage of missionaries.^[140]

Independent Baptists are Baptists who arose in the early 20th century from local Baptist congregations whose members were concerned about the doctrines of theological liberalism in national Baptist conventions.^[141][142] Independent Baptists are primarily fundamentalist,^[143] and although they may differ on multiple issues such as soteriology, dress standards, music, the practice of communion among others, they are homogenous on issues such as opposition to homosexuality, ordination of women, the charismatic movement, evolution and abortion.^[144]

Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who practice seventh-day Sabbatarianism. However, it is not certain when Seventh Day Baptists took denominational form, and they do not claim an unbroken succession of church organization from before the Reformation.^[148]

Landmark Baptists are a Baptist movement which originated in the 19th century in United States, with leaders such as J. R. Graves, J. M. Pendleton and A. C. Dayton, although they denied being a new movement, but a continuation of the old-fashioned Baptists. Landmark Baptists believe that the term "church" should be reserved for Baptist churches exclusively, arguing that groups such as Methodists or Presbyterians are not churches at all, but only religious societies. They believe that Baptists share an unbroken line of succession from the early church.^[149]

في أوائل القرن التاسع عشر، أدى صعود حركة الإرساليات الحديثة ، وما تبعها من ردود فعل عنيفة، إلى جدل واسع النطاق وحاد بين المعمدانيين الأمريكيين. ^{[ 161 ]} خلال هذه الحقبة، انقسم المعمدانيون الأمريكيون بين مؤيدين ومعارضين للإرساليات. وانضم جزء كبير منهم إلى الحركة التي قادها ألكسندر كامبل للعودة إلى كنيسة أكثر أصولية. ^{[ 162 ]}

سعت حركة "لاند ماركس" المعمدانية الجنوبية إلى إعادة ترسيخ الفصل الكنسي الذي ميز الكنائس المعمدانية القديمة، في عصرٍ كانت فيه اجتماعات الاتحاد بين الطوائف هي السائدة. ^{[ 177 ]} كان جيمس روبنسون غريفز معمدانيًا مؤثرًا في القرن التاسع عشر، والزعيم الرئيسي لهذه الحركة. ^{[ 178 ]} وبينما انفصل بعض أعضاء "لاند ماركس" في نهاية المطاف عن المؤتمر المعمداني الجنوبي، استمرت الحركة في التأثير على المؤتمر حتى القرنين العشرين والحادي والعشرين. ^{[ 179 ]}

أثّر صعود الحداثة اللاهوتية في أواخر القرن التاسع عشر وأوائل القرن العشرين تأثيرًا كبيرًا على المعمدانيين. ^{[ 180 ]} وُصفت حركة لاند مارك بأنها رد فعل بين المعمدانيين الجنوبيين في الولايات المتحدة ضد الحداثة الناشئة. ^{[ 181 ]} في إنجلترا، حارب تشارلز سبيرجن الآراء الحداثية للكتاب المقدس في جدل التراجع، وفصل كنيسته عن الاتحاد المعمداني نتيجة لذلك. ^{[ 182 ] [ 183 ] ​​[ 184 ]}

The Northern Baptist Convention in the United States had internal conflict over modernism in the early 20th century, ultimately embracing it.^[185] Two new conservative associations of congregations that separated from the convention were founded as a result: the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches in 1933 and the Conservative Baptist Association of America in 1947.^[185]

Following similar conflicts over modernism, the Southern Baptist Convention adhered to conservative theology as its official position.^[186][187] In the late 20th century, Southern Baptists who disagreed with this direction founded two new groups: the liberal Alliance of Baptists in 1987 and the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1991.^{[188][189][190][191]} Originally both schisms continued to identify as Southern Baptist, but over time they "became permanent new families of Baptists."^[188]

In his 1963 book, Strength to Love, Baptist pastor Martin Luther King Jr. criticized some Baptist churches for their anti-intellectualism, especially because of the lack of theological training among pastors.^[192]

In 2018, Baptist theologian Russell D. Moore criticized some Baptists in the United States for their moralism emphasizing strongly the condemnation of certain personal sins, but being silent on the social injustices that afflict entire populations, such as racism.^[193] In 2020, the North American Baptist Fellowship, a region of the Baptist World Alliance, officially made a commitment to social justice and spoke out against institutionalized discrimination in the American justice system.^[194] In 2022, the Baptist World Alliance adopted a resolution encouraging Baptist churches and associations that have historically contributed to the sin of slavery to engage in restorative justice.^[195]

• McBeth, H. Leon, ed. A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage (1990), primary sources for Baptist history.
• ماكينون، ستيفن أ.، محرر. الحياة والممارسة في الكنيسة الأولى: مختارات وثائقية (2001)
• ماكلوثلين، دبليو جيه، محرر. اعترافات المعمدانيين بالإيمان. فيلادلفيا: جمعية النشر المعمدانية الأمريكية، 1911.