I got a good friend I have known a long time.
He agrees with everything the church would say.
He becomes confused when forced to think.
He is still wrestling with the idea he got born because of happenstance, not sex or something "divine" the way he tried he tried to tell it.
More liberal sources. The author teaches at Baylor*, and just scanning some of the other articles in the series, I can see the liberal leaning. The rest of this article also emphasizes ecumenicalism, which is not an independent Baptist goal.
*from Baylor's website: 9. Does Baylor 2012 require prospective faculty to sign a statement of faith to be hired?
Absolutely not. No single factor has as great an impact on our students as their professors. For that reason, we actively seek professors who embrace Baylor's distinctive mission. However, Baylor has never required a formal statement of faith, nor has it implemented creeds, devised oaths or developed narrow dogma. . . This has led to increasing denominational and ethnic diversity in the faculty. ..
Reba, I found you academic sources. I did not claim any of them were without their own bias. I certainly don't agree with all statements made. All I am trying to point out is that outside of your sphere Baptists are widely recognized as Protestant sect. You condemn now the writings of academeic Catholics, Calvinists, other Baptists (ones who hold faculty positions teaching theology), and your only reference presented to support your theory is a 1931 booklet written by a local preacher, and posthumously published by a single local parish church. (Even I found more references on point, and it didn't even take long.)
Since the source of my references seems to blind you to what is stated within, I will simply provide you with the following:
It is helpful to remember, according to W. Morgan Patterson, associate professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, that the “Baptist historians”-those who are proponents of this view-”have been preachers and pastors first of all, and historians second” (Baptist Successionism, [Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1980), 5.
Please do not try to tell me this is a "liberal" institution.
Baptist James Edward McGoldrick, professor of history at Cedarville College, summarizes the situation well. “Perhaps no other major body of professing Christians has had as much difficulty in discerning it historical roots as have the Baptists. A survey of conflicting opinions might lead a perceptive observer to conclude that Baptists suffer from an identity crisis. . . . Many Baptists object vehemently and argue that their history can be traced across the centuries to New Testament times. Some Baptist deny categorically that they are Protestants and that the history of their churches is related to the success of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Those who reject the Protestant character and Reformation origins of the Baptists usually maintain a view of church history sometimes called ‘Baptist Successionism’ . . . enhanced enormously by a booklet entitled The Trail of Blood.”
After acknowledging his initial advocacy of “successionism”, McGoldrick explains, “Extensive graduate study and independent investigation of church history has, however, convinced [me] that the view once held so dear has not been, and cannot be, verified. On the contrary, surviving primary documents render the successionist view untenable. . . . Although free church groups in ancient and medieval times sometimes promoted doctrines and practices agreeable to modern Baptists, when judged by standards now acknowledged as baptistic, not one of them merits recognition as a Baptist church. Baptists arose in the seventeenth century in Holland and England. They are Protestants, heirs of the Reformers” (Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History [Metuchen, NJ: American Theological Library Assoc. and Scarecrow Press, 1994], 12).
This has become ludicrous, and tiring, but I guess what really sticks in my craw is the steadfast denial of what seem, to the rest of the world, to be accepted facts. Before you claimed Baptists weren't Protestants, I didn't even know anyone actually still believed that, and I don't think you clearly grasp how few people believe it. I really do not understand WHY there is such a desperate need to deny common heritage with other Protestant denominations, when on major points of theology, there is so much common agreement. My sister in Christ you are, no matter how vehemently you deny our Father. (I am sure you will not pick that up as a metaphor, so, please start a new thread to rant about it. Thanks.)
Salam you forgot Islam. I am muslim.