Baptists Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===English separatist view=== [[File:John-Smyth.png|thumb|left|upright|[[John Smyth (English theologian)|John Smyth]] led the first Baptist church in [[Amsterdam]] in 1609.]] Modern Baptist churches trace their history to the English Separatist movement in the 17th century, after the rise of the Protestant [[Reformation]].<ref name="Brackney" /> This view of Baptist origins has the most historical support and is the most widely accepted.<ref name="ETS">{{cite news|title=Anabaptist kinship or English dissent? Papers at ETS examine Baptist origins |newspaper=[[Baptist Press]] |first=Jeff |last=Robinson |date=14 December 2009 |url=http://www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=31878 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619030031/http://www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=31878 |archive-date=19 June 2013 }}</ref> Adherents to this position consider the influence of Anabaptists upon early Baptists to be minimal.<ref name = "Gourley" /> It was a time of considerable political and religious turmoil. Both individuals and churches were willing to give up their theological roots if they became convinced that a more biblical "truth" had been discovered.<ref name = leonard24>{{harvnb|Leonard|2003|pages=24}}</ref> During the Reformation, the [[Church of England]] ([[Anglicanism|Anglicans]]) separated from the Roman [[Catholic Church]]. There were some Christians who were not content with the achievements of the mainstream Protestant Reformation.<ref name= "Shurden turning" /><ref name="Briggs">{{Cite web | last = Briggs | first = John | title = Baptist Origins | publisher = Baptist History and Heritage Society | access-date = 10 January 2010 | url = http://www.baptisthistory.org/contissues/briggs.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100105221040/http://www.baptisthistory.org/contissues/briggs.htm | archive-date = 5 January 2010 |url-status = dead }}</ref> There also were Christians who were disappointed that the Church of England had not made corrections of what some considered to be errors and abuses. Of those most critical of the church's direction, some chose to stay and try to make constructive changes from within the Anglican Church. They became known as "[[Puritans]]" and are described by Gourley as cousins of the English Separatists. Others decided they must leave the church because of their dissatisfaction and became known as the Separatists.<ref name="Gourley" /> In 1579, [[Fausto Sozzini|Faustus Socinus]] founded the [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]] in Poland, which was a tolerant country. The Unitarians taught [[Immersion baptism|baptism by immersion]]. When Poland ceased to be tolerant, they fled to Holland. In Holland, the Unitarians introduced immersion baptism to the [[Mennonites in the Netherlands|Dutch Mennonites]].<ref>{{Cite book|title= Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church|author-link1=Harold O.J. Brown|last=Brown|first=Harold O.J.|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|year=1988|isbn= 1-56563-365-2|location=Grand Rapids, MI|pages=337}}</ref> Baptist churches have their origins in a movement started by [[John Smyth (English theologian)|John Smyth]] and [[Thomas Helwys]] in [[Amsterdam]].<ref>J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, ''Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'', ABC-CLIO, US, 2010, p. 298</ref><ref>William H. Brackney, ''Historical Dictionary of the Baptists'', Scarecrow Press, US, 2009, p. 530</ref><ref>Olivier Favre, ''Les églises évangéliques de Suisse: origines et identités'', Labor et Fides, Genève, 2006, p. 328</ref> Because they shared beliefs with the Puritans and [[Congregationalist polity|Congregationalists]], they went into exile in 1607 with other believers who held the same biblical positions.<ref>W. Glenn Jonas Jr., ''The Baptist River'', Mercer University Press, US, 2008, p. 6</ref> They believe that the [[Bible]] is to be the only guide and that the believer's baptism is what the scriptures require.<ref name="Baker & Landers p258">Robert Andrew Baker, John M. Landers, ''A Summary of Christian History'', B&H Publishing Group, US, 2005, p. 258</ref> In 1609, the year considered to be the foundation of the movement, they baptized believers and founded the first Baptist church.<ref>Robert E. Johnson, ''A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches'', Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 33</ref><ref>Michael Edward Williams, Walter B. Shurden, ''Turning Points in Baptist History'', Mercer University Press, US, 2008, p. 36</ref> In 1609, while still there, Smyth wrote a tract titled "The Character of the Beast," or "The False Constitution of the Church." In it he expressed two propositions: first, [[Infant baptism|infants are not to be baptized]]; and second, "Antichristians converted are to be admitted into the true Church by baptism."<ref name =leonard24/> Hence, his conviction was that a scriptural church should consist only of regenerate believers who have been baptized on a personal confession of faith. He rejected the Separatist movement's doctrine of infant baptism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nettles|first=Tom J. |date=Spring 2009|title=Once Upon a Time, Four Hundred Years Ago... |journal=Founders Journal|volume= 76|pages = 2–8 |url = http://www.founders.org/journal/fj76/article1.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.reformedreader.org/history/vedder/ch14.htm |title=A Short History of the Baptists|last=Vedder|first=HC|publisher= The Reformed Reader|access-date= 23 December 2009}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, Smyth left the group.<ref name="Gourley" /> 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 should they die in infancy.{{Sfn|Leonard|2003|p=25}} Smyth, convinced that his self-baptism was invalid, applied with the Mennonites for membership. He died while waiting for membership, and some of his followers became Mennonites. Helwys and others kept their baptism and their Baptist commitments.{{Sfn|Leonard|2003|p=25}} The modern Baptist denomination is an outgrowth of Smyth's movement.<ref name="Briggs" /> Baptists rejected the name Anabaptist when they were called that by opponents in derision. McBeth writes that as late as the 18th century, many Baptists referred to themselves as "the Christians commonly—though ''falsely''—called Anabaptists."<ref name="McBeth Bapt Beg">{{Cite web|url=http://www.baptisthistory.org/baptistbeginnings.htm|title= Baptist Beginnings | last = McBeth| first= H Leon |publisher= Baptist History and Heritage Society |access-date= 19 October 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071021083427/http://baptisthistory.org/baptistbeginnings.htm| archive-date = 21 October 2007 |url-status = live}}</ref> Helwys took over the leadership, leading the church back to England in 1611, and he published the [[List of Baptist confessions of faith|first Baptist confession of faith]] "A Declaration of Faith of English People" in 1611.<ref>John H. Y. Briggs, ''A Dictionary of European Baptist Life and Thought'', Wipf and Stock Publishers, US, 2009, p. 467</ref> He founded the first [[General Baptists|General Baptist]] Church in [[Spitalfields]], east London, in 1612.<ref>Sébastien Fath, ''Une autre manière d'être chrétien en France: socio-histoire de l'implantation baptiste, 1810–1950'', Editions Labor et Fides, Genève, 2001, p. 81</ref> Another milestone in the early development of Baptist doctrine was in 1638 with [[John Spilsbury (Baptist minister)|John Spilsbury]], a [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] minister who helped to promote the strict practice of believer's baptism by immersion (as opposed to [[affusion]] or [[aspersion]]).<ref name="ETS" /> 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 [[Reformed Baptists|Particular Baptists]]."<ref name="ETS" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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