On May 20, 1957, at the University of Virginia, William Faulkner was asked this question: "Mr. Faulkner, in your talk to the students you said, as I remember, that it's a question whether Southern Baptists are religious, and I was wondering if you would elaborate on that and say if they are not religious then what are they? Faulkner replied: "Well, they're Southern Baptist. I think that is an emotional condition that has nothing to do with God or politics or anything else."

Baptists are stereotyped. That, among most, is an accepted fact. Some even say that they have a certain look, cadence of speech, and overall demeanor that speaks - Baptist. To be sure Baptists are large in certain regions of the continental United States, but across history and even among the world's Christians of today, Baptists remain a relatively new phenomenon. Or do they? 

Talk to some and they will say that John the Baptist was the very first "Baptist" and it continued on from there. Try to understand Baptist doctrine and it could be more confusing than first thought. Analyze the Baptist movement over the centuries and the twists and turns of history are certain to surprise even the most religiously jaded.

This year, however, Baptists turn 400 years old. For it was in the year 1609 the first known Baptist " John Smyth " became such by baptizing himself and then turned and baptized Thomas Helwys. With this act - the Baptist movement was born.

But what of the Southern Baptist Convention - the largest denomination in the family of Baptists? What about the myriad of other Baptists? Who are these people and what do they believe? How have they impacted church history and the wider history of the world?

This edition of Koinonia features: Dr. James Leo Garrett - the Distinguished Professor of Theology Emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and author of the new magisterial work of Baptist history - Baptist Theology: A Four Century Study; Dr. David Dockery - President of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and author of a myriad of books - notably the recent Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal as well as his newest book - Southern Baptist Identity: An Evangelical Denomination Faces the Future; Dr. Gregory Wills, Professor of Church History at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Associate Dean, Theology and Tradition; Director of the Center for the Study of the Southern Baptist Convention and author of a new history of Southern Seminary in this the seminary's sesquicentennial; and Dr. Nathan Finn - author of Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution (the history of the lives of Baptists Richard Fuller and Francis Wayland) and Assistant Professor of Baptist Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. 

Part I

The Apostles - Baptists?; Baptist origins - the sides and issues of the ongoing debate; Baptists - are they Orthodox?; No creed but the Bible?; The influence of the Anabaptists; The Protestant Reformation and the rise of the Baptists; Landmarkism - its root and fruit; Evangelical Calvinism - what it is, what it is not; The Abstract of Principles.