Overview

"Baptists originated as a protest movement within the church but have developed over time into a distinct sect, one committed to preserving its place in the hierarchy of denominations. In today's postmodern, disestablished context, Baptists are in danger of becoming either a religious affinity group, a collection of individuals who share experiences and commitments to a set of principles, or a countercultural sect that retreats to early Enlightenment propositions for consolation and support. In Contesting Catholicity, Curtis W. Freeman offers an alternative Baptist identity, an """"Other"""" kind of Baptist, one that stands between the liberal and fundamentalist options. By discerning an elegant analogy among some late modern Baptist preachers, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Baptist founders, and early patristic theologians, Freeman narrates the Baptist story as a community that grapples with the convictions of the church catholic. Deep analogical conversation across the centuries enables Freeman to gain new leverage on all of the supposedly distinctive Baptist theological identifiers. From believer's baptism, the sacraments, and soul competency, to the Trinity, the priesthood of every believer, and local church autonomy, Freeman's historical reconstruction demonstrates that Baptists did and should understand themselves as a spiritual movement within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. A """"catholic Baptist"""" is fully participant in the historic church and at the very same time is fully Baptist. This radical Baptist catholicity is more than a quantitative sense of historical and ecumenical communion with the wider church. This Other Baptist identity envisions a qualitative catholicity that is centered on the confession of faith in Jesus Christ and historic Trinitarian orthodoxy enacted in the worship of the church in and through word and sacrament."

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9781481300278

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Reviews

In this remarkably lucid and learned monograph, Curtis Freeman suggests a way beyond 'liberalism' and 'fundamentalism' for the Baptist tradition, one that could renew ecumenical vision whilst defending the distinctive history and prophetic role of Baptist spiritual life. This is a masterful piece of ecclesiology, unfettered by false polemics. -- Sarah Coakley, Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge Contesting Catholicity courageously addresses Baptists who feel pushed to the margins in the present prevailing climate of Baptist life, and succeeds magnificently in its aim of offering Baptists a vision which transcends the modern split between 'conservative' and 'liberal'. Curtis Freeman is thoroughly convincing in urging that Baptists are best understood as a dissenting movement within the 'one holy catholic and apostolic church' rather than outside it. This is an essential theology for Baptists 'recovering' from recent crises, retrieving the spiritual and doctrinal tradition of the church universal. It can and should engage emotions and change minds. -- Paul S Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Oxford & Director of Research, Regent's Park College, Oxford In this first truly twenty-first-century ecclesiology, Curtis Freeman offers a brilliant argument, not only for revisioning Baptist notions of church life, but for a readjusted notion of Christian catholicity itself. Challenging, rich, and persuasive, Freeman's 'other Baptist' vision is an important ecumenical event. -- Ephraim Radner, Professor of Historical Theology, Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto Curtis Freeman is doing for Baptists what other Protestant theologians are doing for their own ailing denominations-- retrieving the catholic substance of the Christian tradition to undergird their passion for the evangelical principle. Contesting Catholicity contends that a church claiming to be evangelical while ceasing to be catholic is no Christian church at all.Freeman's evangelical catholic vision is ecumenically promising by virtue of its faithfulness to the essentials of the Baptist tradition. -- Carl E Braaten, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago This learned and well-argued work offers an evangelical and catholic alternative to fundamentalism and lukewarm liberalism. Written for Baptists, it embodies important lessons for other Christian theologians and leaders. -- Gerald O'Collins, Emeritus Professor, Gregorian University This is an important contribution to the ongoing study of Baptist and Catholic theological relationships--a Christian relationship that becomes more urgent by the day. --David Tracy Freeman imagines with fresh eyes how Baptists, by retrieving their own heritage, can embody in new ways that catholicity which is authentically Christian. --Robert Louis Wilken, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the History of Christianity Emeritus, University of Virginia Freeman's exposition of catholicity is an important one that invites reflection accross the ecumenical church...there is much to ponder in this important book. -- Walter Brueggemann -- Christian Century Part history, part theology, and part social theory, Contesting Catholicity seeks to point the theological way forward for Other Baptists who wish to retrieve the tradition of Baptist-catholic protest. -- R. Lucas Stamps, Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, California Baptist University -- Journal of Baptist Studies ...a valuable resource for those in other traditions who are seeking theological renewal. -- Choice This may well be one of the most important books written by a Baptist, both for its vision of Baptist life for Baptists and also for its vision of the church for those of other traditions. -- Andy Goodliff, Belle Vue Baptist Church -- Regent's Reviews In this wonderful book, Freeman recovers for both Baptist and non-Baptists the spiritual heart of the traditional practice of theological contestation as an ongoing effort of reform and transformation, and thereby reaffirms the practical and vital importance of doctrine in the life of the Church catholic in all its forms. -- Nicholas M. Healy, St. John's University -- Christian Century Freeman's exposition of catholicity is an important one that invites reflection accross the ecumenical church...there is much to ponder in this important book. -- Walter Brueggemann -- The Christian Century [Freeman's] well-told narrative of Baptist trajectories as a microcosm of a larger American Protestant story deserves to be read widely not only within but also outside Baptist circles. -- Kimlyn J. Bender -- Books & Culture Freeman's book is a manifesto, detailed and learned, but also engagingly vigorous, for a special way of being'Baptist'. -- Ephraim Radner, Wycliffe College -- First Things ...this is the most important book of post-liberal Baptist theology since James Wm. McClendon Jr. completed his three-volume Systematic Theology in 2000. -- Fisher Humphreys, Samford University -- Baptist History and Heritage Journal Contesting Catholicity is the result of Freeman's personal odyssey to retrieve, negotiate, and proffer a distinctively Baptist theology for the present moment by listening to diverse Baptist voices as well as 'the holy imperfection and medley of difference' that is the great company of the saints. The book is his lucid (and critical) attempt to follow the vector of McClendon's baptist vision, and an ecumenical announcement that Baptist theology is indeed come of age . -- Mark Medley -- Horizons

This learned and well-argued work offers an evangelical and catholic alternative to fundamentalism and lukewarm liberalism. Written for Baptists, it embodies important lessons for other Christian theologians and leaders. --Gerald O'Collins, Emeritus Professor, Gregorian University

Author Information

Curtis W. Freeman is Research Professor of Theology and Director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

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