Free Church, Free State: The Positive Baptist Vision

by Nigel G. Wright

Free Church, Free State is a text book on baptist ways of being church and a proposal for the future of baptist churches in an ecumenical context. Nigel Wright argues that both baptist and catholic church traditions should seek to enrich and support each other as valid expressions of the body of Christ without sacrificing what they hold dear. Written for pastors, church planters, evangelists and preachers, this text offers frameworks of thought for baptists and nonbaptists in their journey together following Christ.

Genres: Theology

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Matthew Prydden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr Wright's book on his vision for the Baptist denomination puts forth many good and constructive ideas although there are some weaknesses to the work too, which sadly do take away a little from those very good positives. Dr Wright can be quite generous in his depiction of paedobaptist beliefs at times, and yet at others I felt he painted quite a poor picture of, perhaps, paedobaptistism at its worst. His application of his exegesis of Acts 8 is also quite biased toward his own ideologies, I felt (although I am sure we are all guilty of this at times). The final chapter made me think that perhaps the main purpose of this book was to lay out a positive Baptist vision that remains true to its core identity and yet is attractive and accommodative to both the current ecumenical discussion and toward the scepticism of Christianity by today's society. There is a lot of good to be gained from this book and gives a good grounding for discussions on the place of, and the idea of, the church today.

[Радостин Марчев · Rating 5 out of 5]

Като цяло много добро представяне на баптисткото (или баптистичното) богословско направление. Особено интересен е подхода на автора към тайнствата - той защитава нещо, кето спокойно може да бъде наречено "сакраментализъм" и което (за изненада на много баптисти - особено у нас) има и винаги е имало място в баптисткото богословие.

[Lincoln Rozelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has decent content. But it really needed a stronger editor.

[Deborah Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

great - incredible vision for the future of the baptist and catholic Church and theological foundation for understanding the free church

[Brian Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found him most helpful in arguing for believers baptism and a gathered church ecclesiology. I found him less helpful in his section on government. He leans toward an anabaptist view in which the state is defined in terms of having the monopoly on sanctioned violence. Since, in his view, Christians are committed to following Christ in a path of non-violence, Christians who serve in state capacities place themselves in a difficult position. His ecumenical leanings also show through at various places throughout the book, so a section on religious tolerance in society is followed by a section on tolerance within the church.