Baptist successionism

Not to be confused with Secessionism.
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Baptist successionism is one of several theories on the origin and continuation of Baptist churches – also known as "Baptist perpetuity" or "The Trail of Blood". It is the theory that there has been an unbroken chain of churches since the days of Christ which have held similar beliefs (though not always the name) of the current Baptist churches. Ancient anti-paedobaptist groups, such as the Montanists, Paulicians, Cathari, Waldenses, Albigenses, and Anabaptists, have been among those viewed by Baptist successionists as the predecessors of modern day Baptists.[1] Their history is documented in books such as the Martyrs Mirror.

This view was once commonly held among Baptists.[2] Since the end of the 19th Century, however, the theory has increasingly come under attack and today has been largely discredited,[3][4] and yet continued to be the prevailing view among Baptists of the South into the latter 20th century.[5] It is now identified primarily with Landmarkism[6] though not exclusively so.[5] The concept finds its parallels in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican doctrine of apostolic succession and stands in contrast to the restorationist views of Mormons and the Stone/Campbell Restoration Movement.[7]

Contents

Early articulation of the theory

Baptist successionsim was advocated as early as 1652 by an English Baptist named John Spittlehouse in a book entitled A Vindication of the Continued Succession of the Primitive Church of Jesus Christ (Now Scandalously Termed Anabaptists) from the Apostles Unto This Present Time.[8]

Baptist sucessionist historians have relied chiefly on the statements of Roman Catholic and Protestant historians and apologists as to the antiquity of the Anabaptists.[9] One such statement, cited by William Willams (one of the charter professors of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)[10] in his Lectures on Baptist History,[11] is that of Dutch Reformed scholars Annaeus Ypeij and Izaak Johannes Dermout who wrote (in their work "Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Hervornude Kerk", Breda, 1819):

"We have already seen that the Baptists—those who in former times were named Anabaptists, and in later days Mennonites—were originally Waldensians, the men who, in the history of the church, in times so far back, have obtained a well-deserved renown. In consequence, the Baptists may be regarded as being from of old the only religious denomination that have continued from the times of the apostles, as a Christian society who have kept the evangelical faith pure through all the ages hitherto. The constitution, never perverted internally or externally, of the society of the Baptists, serves them as a proof of that truth, contested by the Romish Church, that the reformation of religion, such as was brought about in the sixteenth century, was necessary, was indispensable, and serves, too, as the refutation, at the same time, of the Roman Catholic delusive fancy, that their own is the oldest church society."

Advocates of Baptist Successionism

John T. Christian's History of the Baptists[12] is a general Baptist history written from a successionist perspective. J. M. Carroll's The Trail of Blood,[13] a popular pamphlet originally published in 1931 and which is still being published, is based on lectures delivered by Carroll on the subject of Baptist perpetuity and persecution.[14] Other Baptist writers who have advocated the perpetuity view are Thomas Crosby, G.H. Orchard, J.M. Cramp, William Cathcart, Adam Taylor and D.B. Ray[15][16]

Jesse Mercer, namesake of Mercer University, wrote a circular letter for the Georgia Baptist Association in 1811 in which he defended the Baptist rejection of alien immersion on the basis of Baptist succession. He wrote:

But if it should be said, that the apostolic succession cannot be ascertained, and then it is proper to act without it; we say, that the loss of the succession can neither prove it futile, nor justify any one out of it. The Pedobaptists, by their own histories, admit they are not of it; but we do not, and shall think ourselves entitled to the claim, until the reverse be clearly shewn. And should any think authority derived from the MOTHER OF HARLOTS sufficient to qualify to administer a Gospel ordinance, they will be so charitable as not to condemn us for preferring that derived from Christ. And should any still more absurdly plead that ordination, received from an individual is sufficient; we leave them to shew what is the use of ordination, and why it exists. If any think an administration will suffice which has no pattern in the gospel; they will suffer us to act according to the divine order with impunity.[17][18]

Baptist perpetuity was also held by the renowned English Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon who said,[19]

We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the reformation, we were reformers before Luther and Calvin were born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel under ground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherents.

Modern movement away from the theory

Since the end of the 19th century the trend in academic Baptist historiography, spearheaded by William Heth Whitsitt, has been away from the successionist viewpoint to the view that modern day Baptists are an outgrowth of 17th century English Separatism.[20] This shift precipitated a controversy among Southern Baptists which occasioned the forced resignation of Whitsitt in 1898 from the Southern Baptist Seminary for advocating the new view, though his views continued to be taught in the seminary after his departure.[21]

Notes

  1. ^ Patterson, Morgan W (1969), Baptist Successionism – A Critical View, Valley Forge: Judson Press, p. 9 .
  2. ^ Torbet, Robert G. (1975). A History of the Baptists (3rd ed.). Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0817000745. "One of the oldest and most generally accepted theories until recent times may be called for our convenience the successionist theory. According to this opinion, Baptists have been in existence ever since the days of John the Baptist's ministry along the Jordan River." 
  3. ^ McGoldrick, James Edward. Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History. ISBN 0810836815. 
  4. ^ Brackney, William H.. A genetic history of Baptist Thought: With Special Reference to Baptists in Britain and North America. ISBN 0865549133. 
  5. ^ a b Patterson, Morgan W (1969), Baptist Successionism – A Critical View, Valley Forge: Judson Press, p. 6 .
  6. ^ McBeth, H. Leon (1987). The Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman Press. p. 58. ISBN 9780805465693. 
  7. ^ Torbet, Robert G. (1975). A History of the Baptists (3rd ed.). Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0817000745. 
  8. ^ Spittlehouse, John and John More (1652). "A Vindication of the Continued Succession…". London: Printed by Gartrude Dawson. http://www.reformedreader.org/history/continuedsuccession.htm. 
  9. ^ Christian, John T (1922). A History of the Baptists. 1. Nashville: Broadman Press. pp. 83–282. 
  10. ^ McBeth, H. Leon (1987). The Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman Press. p. 445. ISBN 9780805465693. 
  11. ^ Williams, William R. (1877). Lectures on Baptist History. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society. p. 172. ISBN 978-1120635044. http://books.google.com/books?id=5whFAAAAIAAJ. 
  12. ^ Christian, John T. (1922). A History Of The Baptists (2 vols.). Broadman Press. 
  13. ^ Carrol, J.M. (1931). The Trail of Blood. Lexington, Kentucky: Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. http://www.trailofblood.com/The%20Trail%20Of%20Blood.htm. 
  14. ^ McBeth, H. Leon (1987). The Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman Press. pp. 57–8. ISBN 9780805465693. 
  15. ^ The Baptist Heritage, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987, pp. 59–60 .
  16. ^ Torbet, Robert (1975), A History of the Baptists, Valley Forge: Judson Press, p. 18 .
  17. ^ Mercer, Jesse (1838). A History of the Georgia Baptist Association. pp. 196–201. http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/1811cl_mercer.html. 
  18. ^ Grime, JH (1909), History of Alien Immersion and Valid Baptism, pp. 49–51 .
  19. ^ Spurgeon, Charles, The New park Street Pulpit, VII, Reformed Reader, p. 225, http://www.reformedreader.org/ .
  20. ^ Cross, I.K. (1990). The Battle For Baptist History. Columbus, GA: Brentwood Christian Press. p. 174. ISBN 9780892113378. 
  21. ^ McBeth, H. Leon (1987). The Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman Press. pp. 457–58. ISBN 9780805465693.