This book is an enlarged version of the author's Hulsean Lectures in the University of Cambridge for 1983-4. It considers the main movements in the theology of baptism, both that of infants and believers, in Great Britain from the Evangelical Revival to the publication of the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission's consensus statement on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry of 1982. Thus as well as the shifts in the Church of England from evangelical to tractarian, 'broad church' to liberal catholic, there is a survey of the views of Methodists, Baptists and Congregationalists, with reflections from the scene in Scotland and Ireland, during the same period. It offers a survey of popular belief and practice about baptism from the eighteenth century to the present, because of the author's conviction that theological movements have to be seen in their historical context. In the case of baptism, in particular, a consistent difference has persisted between popular perceptions and the Churches' expectations, which poses significant challenges to the understanding of the Churches' mission in contemporary society.

This study is comprised of 20 essays which survey the state of religion in Britain. Focusing on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as on England, this text covers not only the mainstream Christian religions but also black-led churches, the folk-religionists, the minor sects and new religious movements.

During the twentieth century, Britain turned from one of the most deeply religious nations of the world into one of the most secularised nations. This book provides a comprehensive account of religion in British society and culture between 1900 and 2000. It traces how Christian Puritanism and respectability framed the people amidst world wars, economic depressions, and social protest, and how until the 1950s religious revivals fostered mass enthusiasm. It then examines the sudden and dramatic changes seen in the 1960’s and the appearance of religious militancy in the 1980s and 1990s. With a focus on the themes of faith cultures, secularisation, religious militancy and the spiritual revolution of the New Age, this book uses people’s own experiences and the stories of the churches to display the diversity and richness of British religion. Suitable for undergraduate students studying modern British history, church history and sociology of religion.

Since its first publication in 2000, Baptism and the Baptists has become the definitive work on the subject. It examines the theology and practice of believers' baptism among twentieth-century Baptists associated with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and identifies the major influences which have led to its development. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the majority of Baptists concentrated predominantly on the mode and subjects of baptism (immersion and believers), understanding the rite merely as an ordinance--the believer's personal profession of faith in Christ. However, in continuity with a tradition of Baptists going back as far as the first Baptists in the second and third decades of the seventeenth century, there were also a significant number of ministers and scholars who saw the inadequacy of this view of baptism both biblically and theologically. This sacramental view developed and grew throughout the twentieth century, and influenced a resurgence of baptismal sacramentalism in the early twenty-first century among Baptists not just in Britain, but also in North America, Europe, and further afield.

This book seeks to bring coherence to two of the most studied periods in British history, Caroline non-conformity (pre-1640) and the British revolution (post-1642). It does so by focusing on the pivotal years of 1638–44 where debates around non-conformity within the Church of England morphed into a revolution between Parliament and its king. Parliament, saddled with the responsibility of re-defining England’s church, called its Westminster assembly of divines to debate and define the content and boundaries of that new church. Typically this period has been studied as either an ecclesiastical power struggle between Presbyterians and independents, or as the harbinger of modern religious toleration. This book challenges those assumptions and provides an entirely new framework for understanding one of the most important moments in British history.

The subject of baptism continues to be of considerable interest--though it frequently appears within broader studies of sacraments, liturgy, worship, and ecumenical studies, and within confessional bounds: credobaptist or paedobaptist--yet it is rarely discussed by Evangelicals. This book, however, is neither an apologetic for credobaptism nor paedobaptism; rather Cross believes that, as practiced today, both forms are a departure from New Testament baptism, which, he maintains, was an integral part of becoming a Christian and part of the proclaimed gospel. He argues that the "one baptism" of Ephesians 4:5 is conversion-baptism and that the baptism referred to in the various New Testament strata refers to this "one baptism" (of Spirit and water). The study sets out the case for this interpretation and contends that in key passages "baptism" is an example of synecdoche. The case is then made for a sacramental interpretation of baptism from a thoroughgoing Evangelical perspective. Cross concludes with reflections on the necessity of baptismal reform and the relevance of a return to conversion-baptism for the contemporary church in a post-Christian, post-Christendom, mission setting.

Explores and clarifies the Church of England's thinking about baptism, confirmation and admission to communion, addressing some very practical questions in relation to ministry.

This book provides a wealth of fascinating information about many significant and lesser-known nineteenth-century Christian authors, mostly women, who were motivated to write material specifically for children’s spiritual edification because of their personal faith. It explores three prevalent theological and controversial doctrines of the period, namely Soteriology, Biblical Authority and Eschatology, in relation to children’s specifically engendered Christian literature. It traces the ecclesiastical networks and affiliations across the theological spectrum of Evangelical authors, publishers, theologians, clergy and scholars of the period. An unprecedented deluge of Evangelical literature was produced for millions of Sunday School children in the nineteenth century, resulting in one of its most prolific and profitable forms of publishing. It expanded into a vast industry whose magnitude, scope and scale is discussed throughout this book. Rather than dismissing Evangelical children’s literature as simplistic, formulaic, moral didacticism, this book argues that, in attempting to convert the mass reading public, nineteenth-century authors and publishers developed a complex, highly competitive genre of children’s literature to promote their particular theologies, faith and churchmanships, and to ultimately save the nation.

Bebbington presents a newly researched historical study of Evangelical religion in its British cultural setting. Focusing on patterns of change affecting all churches, it details how the movement has been moulded by British culture.

They complement and elaborate themes developed in Keith Robbins' books