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Addendum to the conversation yesterday about Baptist theologians. They may not be on Aquinas-Luther level in terms of influence, but here are a few Baptist theologians to know:
John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, who started it all in early 17th century Britain.
Benjamin Keach, an influential Particular Baptist pastor and theologian. Could also mention Kiffin, Knoylls, Coxe, Collins, and others here.
Thomas Monck, the compiler of the General Baptist Orthodox Creed and the author of the important and wonderfully titled book "A Cure for Canckering Error of the New Eutychianism." Should also mention Thomas Grantham here.
John Bunyan, persecuted pastor, allegorist, and spiritual master:
I'll stop here for now & come back later. Some of these 17th c. British Baptists may not be household names in university & divinity school theology departments but their religious dissent started a worldwide movt that today has 100 million ppl (& millions more in free churches)
Let's keep going a little. John Gill is the most important 18th century Baptist theologian. He wrote commentaries on every verse of Scripture before writing a massive two-volume body of doctrinal and practical divinity.
There are seeds in Gill's theology that led to the hyper-Calvinism of the "Gillites" (e.g., his doctrine of eternal justification). But that shouldn't cause you to neglect his massive and edifying output. Muller treats him as one of the post-Reformation Reformed orthodox.
Let's put these two together. Andrew Fuller's Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation & William Carey's Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens helped to overcome the hyper-Calvinism of the time & to spark the modern missions mov't.
William Carey went to India, and Fuller, as part of the same Baptist association, "held the rope."
I'll put these together as well. George Liele & Adoniram Judson. Judson is typically regarded as the 1st American missionary (to Myanmar) but the former slave Liele beat him (to Jamaica) by a few decades.
Their "theologies" are their missionary accounts and (in Judson's case) a translation of the Bible.
This next set is complicated. Boyce, Manly, Broadus, and Williams were, to their shame, defenders of slavery and the confederacy. Still, their contribution both theologically and institutionally remains.
Same caveat about the antebellum South, but John L. Dagg wrote the first Southern Baptist systematic theology (his Manual of Theology).
Also complicated but for different reasons. Walter Rauschenbusch was the champion of the Social Gospel in the destitution of Hell's Kitchen. Even those of us who diverge radically from his theology have to grapple with his impact on American religion and society.
The Northern Baptist Augustus Hopkins Strong wrote one of the most widely read texts of systematic theology of his era.
Edgar Young Mullins. One of the most original Southern Baptist theologians ever, he sought to synthesize the Calvinistic views he inherited with a more modern understanding of religious experience.
Two black Baptists from my home state who both pastored Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. One you know, the other you should. Charles Octavius Boothe, author of Plain Theology for Plain People. And the champion of Civil Rights, Martin Luther King Jr.
American evangelicalism wouldn't be what it is without these two. Carl F. H. Henry was the intellectual behind the movement and Billy Graham was its evangelist and popularizer.
James Leo Garrett's writings seem to be undervalued in my estimation but his influence on his students was massive.
Also shamefully undervalued by some, James Wm. McClendon, Jr. was was one the more influential narrative theologians of the late 20th century.
Millard Erickson's Christian Theology has been a standard seminary textbook for decades but his more focused academic work is also extraordinarily helpful.
Stan Grenz was another creative Baptist theologian, who sought to bring the faith into conversation with postmodern modes of thought.
That's all I've got (for now). The list is obviously incomplete and from my own vantage. Who would you add?
Who am I missing from across the pond, @SteveRHolmes?
