Baptist Standard interviews Bill Leonard: The emerging church offers hope for Baptists, Leonard insisted. “I’d rather be Baptist in the postmodern period than anything else.”
Baptists should reassert ritual, particularly the “danger and decisiveness” inherent in the ordinances of believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper, Leonard said.
With their emphasis on religious liberty and a believer’s church grounded in uncoerced faith, Baptists uniquely are positioned to respond to secularism, pluralism and religious establishmentarianism, he asserted.
“We should affirm and accept pluralism without running to syncretism,” he said. (More)
The Southern Baptists, BTW, had some great meetings with the European Baptists last week in Poland that may lead to greater partnership. LINK
A Baptist Historian on Emerging Church
Hope for Baptists
A Baptist historian on the emerging church: The emerging church offers hope for Baptists, Leonard insisted. “I’d rather be Baptist in the postmodern period than anything else.” Baptists should reassert ritual, particularly the “danger and decisiveness”…
Hope for Baptists
A Baptist historian on the emerging church: The emerging church offers hope for Baptists, Leonard insisted. “I’d rather be Baptist…
Hope for Baptists
A Baptist historian on the emerging church: The emerging church offers hope for Baptists, Leonard insisted. “I’d rather be Baptist in the postmodern period than anything else.” Baptists should reassert ritual, particularly the “danger and decisiveness”…
There is something very Baptist about the Emerging church. The rejection of inherited tradition, the reclamation of faith for the individual, the centrality of Jesus.
Though most Baptist forefathers would be happy at the thought that Baptists should “reassert ritual” if it meant baptism and communion, they would be horrified by all the candles, inscence, oil and other stuff that is used in emerging circles. They dumped most of the ritual from the inherited church when they set out.
I work in advertising with ex-catholics and although in conversation about religion I’ve always tried to avoid the denomination issue, whenever it comes up, Baptist ideas of the priesthood of all believers always go down well.
Hope for Baptists
A Baptist historian on the emerging church: The emerging church offers hope for Baptists, Leonard insisted. “I’d rather be Baptist in the postmodern period than anything else.” Baptists should reassert ritual, particularly the “danger and decisiveness”…
There is a certain sadness in me to read the comment about the meeting between the Southern Baptists and some European Baptists.
The SB’s split from the Baptist World Alliance – telling them that they were way too liberal. Now they are hunting around for more prey to join their ultra conservative gang. Sadly also, the gathering was initiated by someone who has been the beneficiary of a whole gold mine of SB resources, but is said to present American/Western/TV evangelist Christianity rather than an indigenous interpretation of the faith to his own people.
Maybe I’m wrong…but…may be I should be more generous and thank God for every conservative devotee perpared to take a westernised, materialistic, consumerist faith for unreached peoples…but…
hey ho
hi edward
you could be right on one level and lets hope that does not happen – but on the other hand, i see some names in that group of Americans that i recognize and trust – having met a few of them on past visits to USA.
BTW – a number of us will be at the BWA Congress in Birmingham later this month (i probably already told you that . . .)