The Victorian preacher Charles Spurgeon, once said of Baptist Christians, "The claim which we make to have been the first expositors and advocates in modern times of religious liberty, is based on the surest foundation, and is capable of the most satisfactory proof."This volume aims to concisely examine that foundation, particularly within the historical and theological context of the years 1612-1689 and the cultural context of England. Hopefully readers will be both informed, and perhaps even transformed, by a better understanding of the Early English Baptist development of a biblically distinctive theology of religious liberty in an era when it was not enjoyed by many and was endorsed by few, well before the radical cultural and intellectual shifts of the eighteenth century.Clearly identifying and expounding a historic, biblical theology of true religious freedom is a matter of particular importance for our present cultural moment. Many do not have such freedom at all, and many others note a growing climate of anti-religious and especially anti-Christian antagonism. This hostility is fuelled by the influence of media and celebrity, and may in some cases even take legislative and judicial form, as public opinion shapes political orthodoxy and informs the actions of government and law enforcement officials, threatening religious liberty in a variety of ways. Non-conformity to the religious or irreligious status quo, whatever that might be, is at best frowned upon, and in many places suppressed-even, in far too many cases around the world, violently. Some Christians are reacting by exploring old ideologies and new movements that project strength and offer hope, but often mirror the power politics of world cultures instead of the other-worldly principles of Christ's kingdom.Early English Baptist history offers a better way, that puts total confidence in the power of the gospel and the promises of God.
