Baptists and the Bible, 40th Anniversary Edition, by L. Russ Bush and Tom. J. Nettles. Fort Worth, TX: Seminary Hill Press, 2020. xxx + 480 pp. $24.99.
Baptists and the Bible, the fruit of almost a decade of discussions and research by L. Russ Bush (d. 2008) and Tom J. Nettles, first appeared in 1980. Both pursued doctorates and then worked together at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Bush went on to serve in teaching and administrative roles at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Nettles moved to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary before teaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Both have had a wide writing and speaking ministry and made lasting contributions to the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Broadman and Holman issued a revised, expanded edition of Baptists and the Bible in 1999. Southwestern Baptist’s Seminary Hill Press published this fortieth-anniversary edition featuring a new foreword and preface, student and colleague tributes, and a new section on the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. In nineteen chapters, the book presents Baptist views on the Bible. Part one demonstrates a consensus among Baptists from the seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century. Part two covers philosophical challenges to prior understandings of Scripture and chronicles the responses to those theological changes. The third part focuses on Baptist confessions of faith and provides a summative analysis and recommendations.
Part one argues that English General and Particular Baptists and American Northern and Southern Baptists, despite theological diversity, found common ground in the doctrine of Scripture. While John Smyth embraced both a personal subjective inspiration as well as the full trustworthiness of the Bible in the original languages (15), Thomas Helwys and later General Baptists “rejected Quaker claims of immediate inspiration in favor of biblical authority” and infallibility in their Orthodox Creed (29). The 1644 Particular Baptist First London Confession stated that “[T]he character of God, the ministry of Christ, and the effectual working of the Spirit all witness to the utter truthfulness of the Bible” (40). The 1677 Second London Confession both followed the Westminster Confession of Faith and made “even more explicit…their affirmation of Scripture as the only authoritative source of God’s revealed truth” (43). Philadelphia Baptists believed that the Bible “was an unerring volume…given by inspiration of the unerring God” (56). Roger Williams, Isaac Backus, John Bunyan, and Benjamin Keach agreed that “what Scripture says, God says” (58). John Gill, Andrew Fuller, and Dan Taylor affirmed “the inspiration and thus the infallibility of Scripture, its status as divine revelation, and thus its inerrancy in the ‘originals’” in the face of encroaching rationalism (110). Baptist missionaries William Carey and Adoniram Judson likewise saw Scripture as light-bringing truth (122) and infallible revelation from God (131). Nineteenth-century American Baptists John Leland, Richard Furman, Francis Wayland, and John L. Dagg were divided over slavery, but exhibited “union in their view of Scripture” (136).
Part two explains impact of the philosophical movements that reshaped intellectual thought in the nineteenth century and Baptist responses. The onset of “religious doubt and skepticism,” higher critical theories such as source criticism of the Pentateuch, the division of faith from history, and the rejection of absolute truth led some to the conclusion that the Bible was a product of its times rather than an absolutely true book (170–71, 174–75, 179). J. P. Boyce, the first president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, saw the Bible “as the unique source of religious authority” and “unhesitatingly asserted that Scripture is without error” (197). Basil Manly, Jr., authored the seminary’s Abstract of Principles, stating: “The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience” (205). John A. Broadus shared the views of Boyce and Manly, but C. H. Toy embraced higher critical theories, separated faith and history, denied full inspiration, and began to teach that the Bible contained mistakes (218). J. R. Graves declared, “To intimate that the least sentence or allusion of the Scriptures is inaccurate or false, is to make God a liar” (208). In Britain, C. H. Spurgeon held the Bible as “the inspired truth of God” (235), while John Clifford “sought to blend evolutionary hypotheses and the conclusions of higher criticism with Christian piety” (231). Among American Northern Baptists, A. H. Strong held that the Scriptures were inspired and inerrant, although he rejected “verbal dictation” as a method of inspiration and allowed for the possibility of historical and logical errors (256–58). Alvah Hovey extensively defended “the Bible as a supernatural revelation from God” (264). Southern Seminary’s E. Y. Mullins believed “the Bible was God’s revealed truth unmixed with error” but downplayed “the theological issues relating to the manner of God’s work of inspiration” (281). A. T. Robertson submitted his biblical scholarship to the teachings of the Bible (287). Southwestern Seminary’s founding president, B. H. Carroll, refused to separate theological, scientific, and historical truth, seeing the Bible as completely trustworthy (298). W. T. Conner spoke of inspiration but viewed “the empirical certainty implied by the popular use of the word inerrancy” as unnecessary for true faith (305). In the twentieth century, Walter Rauschenbusch, Shailer Mathews, William Newton Clarke, Harry Emerson Fosdick, and James Josiah Reeve embraced the theologically liberal or modernist position on the Bible, focusing more on “social implications of the Gospel” or seeing the Bible as “a record of religious experiences” (309). Part two closes by chronicling sharp division over the doctrine of Scripture among Northern Baptists as well as internal conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention manifested with the 1925 Baptist Faith and Message, the Broadman Bible Commentary, and Ralph Elliot controversies.
Part three examines key Baptist confessions, chronicles recent developments such as the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, and urges readers to hold the Scriptures as the fully trustworthy, authoritative revelation of God and to seek to spread its message. The authors defend the view that “[t]he historic Baptist view of Scripture assumes the unity of all truth and a coherent view of reality” and explain the implications of this conviction for ministry (450). The book closes with person, subject, and Scripture indices.
Baptists and the Bible is thoroughly researched, well-argued, and engaging. One of the main strengths of the book is the sheer number of primary resources the authors draw upon. The authors provide numerous quotations and close each chapter with a bibliography, providing ample material for confirming or building upon their work. The authors provide clear and irenic analysis and explanation of the persons and documents discussed, setting them in their historical, cultural, and intellectual contexts. The authors persuasively argue that a robust doctrine of Scripture existed among Baptists from the beginning. The chapters weave together fascinating narratives of Baptist thought leaders and show the nature and impact of their ideas.
To comprise a single volume, such a study must be selective. Readers should know that the book emphasizes Baptists in England and America. Among American Baptists, some readers might expect to see treatment of how various independent Baptist groups view the Bible, but such is not the focus of this work. Understandably, much of the work centers on the heritage and challenges of Southern Baptists, who remain the largest Protestant denomination in America.
Bush and Nettles have contributed an enduring resource for those studying Baptist history and Christian theology. A beautiful hardcover binding adorns this edition, appropriately included in the publisher’s “legacy series.” Baptists and the Bible deserves pride of place in the syllabi of Baptist history and theology courses, merits consideration for classes on the doctrine of Scripture, and is worthy of a place on the shelves and in the hands of pastors and church members who wish to understand, articulate, and apply the Bible as the very Word of God.
