Southwest Baptist
University News Release
Contact:
Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications
Dr. Clint Bass
publishes “Thomas Grantham (1633-1692) and General Baptist Theology”
BOLIVAR, Mo. – Dr. Clint Bass, assistant professor of church history in the Redford College of Theology and Ministry at Southwest Baptist University, has recently published his first book, “Thomas Grantham (1633-1692) and General Baptist Theology.”
BOLIVAR, Mo. – Dr. Clint Bass, assistant professor of church history in the Redford College of Theology and Ministry at Southwest Baptist University, has recently published his first book, “Thomas Grantham (1633-1692) and General Baptist Theology.”
The
book, based on Bass’s doctoral thesis, focuses primarily on the doctrine of the
General Baptist leader, Thomas Grantham.
“The
book was meant to give a full account of the life and thought of the most
important General Baptist theologian of the later seventeenth century,” Bass
said.
The
book tells the life of Thomas Grantham in its first chapter, followed by an
account of Grantham’s ecclesiology in its second chapter. Chapter three deals
with Thomas Grantham’s view of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Chapter four
explains the controversy over the laying of the hands, a divisive practice
among Baptists of the period. Chapter five covers Grantham’s understanding of
salvation. Lastly, chapter six focuses on Grantham’s role in opposition to the
Christological deficiency adopted by a small party of his churchmen.
In
writing the book Dr. Bass addresses some of the misconceptions about the General
Baptists, namely when and to what extent they became heterodox in their Christology.
He also critiques what some recent authors have said about early Baptist views
of the ordinances.
“There
is a trend to attribute to Grantham a higher sacramentalism than what he
actually held in baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” Bass said.
The
book focuses on Thomas Grantham’s life and thought; however, by interacting
with the wider context, Bass also explains how the General Baptists are to be
understood in relation to the religious milieu of Restoration England.
The
book is sold by the Centre for Baptist History and Heritage, Regent's Park
College (Oxford). It can be purchased on the Web for 22 pounds (roughly $33.50
on today's rate).
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