Age Group
Adult

Materials Included
• 5 Sessions of Learner’s Materials
• 5 Sessions of Teaching Materials
• 5 Handouts

Scriptures
1. Acts 5:27-32
2. Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12-13
3. Matthew 16:13-18
4. Romans 12:1-21
4. Matthew 22:15-22; Romans 13:1; Revelation 13:9-10

Brief Description
What makes a Baptist a Baptist? Of course, the ultimate answer is simple: membership in a local Baptist church. But there are all kinds of Baptist churches! What are the spiritual and theological marks of a Baptist? What is the shape and the feel of Baptist Christianity?

Martin E. Marty coined the term “baptistification” to describe what he calls “the most dramatic shift in power style on the Christian scene in our time.” He does not mean that people of other Christian denominations are running to join Baptist churches. Rather, he means that a new religious mood is afoot in America that emphasizes freedom, choice, and voluntarism in matters of faith. For Marty, “baptistification” isn’t about a particular Baptist doctrine or practice. It describes the Baptist style of faith. Baptistification is a spirit that pervades all Baptist principles. It is the spirit of freedom.

A part of the NextSunday Resources line of adult Bible studies, Baptist Freedom contains five lessons for use as individual study or group discussion. Each study contains lessons on the biblical material, combined with an additional commentary from an alternate, but complementary, viewpoint.

Walter B. Shurden is the author of the Baptist Freedom study. He is the founding executive director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University.

C. Douglas Weaver authored the first session of the Baptist Freedom study. He is associate professor of religion and director of undergraduate studies at Baylor University.

Fisher Humphreys is the commentary writer for the Baptist Freedom study. In 2008, he retired as professor of divinity at the Beeson School of Divinity of Samford University. He is the author of numerous books, including the Smyth & Helwys titles, The Way We Were and Fundamentalism.

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