The Distinctiveness of Baptist: A Sketch of the Primary and Basic Insights

The Distinctiveness of Baptist: A Sketch of the Primary and Basic Insights

Andres S. TANG

This paper aims to give a sketch of the primary and basic insights of the Baptists. Against the background of identity crisis, both theological and Christian identities, in the modern world, Baptists in America and Great Britain are involved in the reflection of the distinctiveness of the Baptists among various Protestant denominations. It is true that Baptists share the understandings of Christian faith with the Protestant in broad sense. However, through a reflection of the crisis Baptists are facing, ecclesiology emerges as its unique contribution to the Protestant Church. Baptism, on the one hand, is emphasized among Baptists for its individual, personal relation with Jesus Christ. On the other hand, it is the immersion into the local church represented by the Christian's immersion in the water. These two pillars of Baptist ecclesiology are grounded in the following two confessions: Jesus Christ is the Lord and the covenant of walking together. Indeed the covenant of Jesus Christ the Lord to the Christian requires him/her to walk with the other Christian. This kind of ecclesiology helps the Baptists to face the crisis of theological uniqueness and the crisis of Christian atomic individualism in the modern secular world.