In this scholarly treatment of a lesser-known denomination, J. Matthew Pinson offers a comprehensive history of the Free Will Baptist movement-a distinct theological tradition within the larger Baptist family.

Traversing four centuries of history in his analysis, Pinson divides his study into five parts, arranged in chronological and geographical order. He traces the beginnings of the Free Will Baptists in the Carolinas from the late 1600s; the denomination's early expansion across the Southeast; the rise and decline of the Northern Freewill Baptists; and the identity and development of the Free Will Baptist movement into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The scarcity of archival evidence for the history of Free Will Baptists in the American South makes the chronicling of their history challenging. To illustrate the development of ideas within the tradition over time, Pinson creatively engages a unique combination of primary source materials, including general conference and local church minutes, confessional documents, and worship materials such as hymnals. A scholarly history as accessible as it is comprehensive, The Free Will Baptists: A New History is a valuable resource for students of religious history as well as Baptist historians.

About the Author
J. Matthew Pinson is president and professor of historical theology at Welch College. He is author of Arminian and Baptist: Explorations in a Theological Tradition and editor of Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation by F. Leroy Forlines.


Book Information
ISBN 9798895270424
Author Matthew Pinson
Format Hardback
Page Count 514
Imprint University of Tennessee Press
Publisher University of Tennessee Press