Dr. JM Carroll's "The Trail of Blood" is a great historical premise concerning the beginnings of the church from "Christ it's founder, till the current day". Written in the early 20th century, Dr. Carroll details the history and plight of TRUE bible believers throughout time. Still as relevant today as it was almost 100 years ago, this timeless classic is a must-have part of any Christian's personal reading collection.
"The recent reprint of The Baptist Catechism has given families and study classes a helpful tool for memorizing the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Now, a hidden jewel, Benjamin Beddome's 'A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism, ' takes its place alongside the Catechism to give much needed assistance to the same families and classes. Beddome shows how the doctrines contained in the Catechism are founded upon Scripture, and explains them for all to understand. This is indeed a wonderful instrument to make skilled craftsmen from apprentices!" - Dr. James M. Renihan
CHAPTER 1 THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCHES. The Great Commission. A Definition of a Church. A Voluntary Association. A Church Not National or General. The Officers of a Church. The Ordinances. The Proper Subjects of Baptism. The Form of Baptism. The Lord’s Supper. The Ordinances as Symbols. The Churches Missionary Bodies. The Continued Existence of the Churches. CHAPTER 2 THE ANCIENT CHURCHES. Early Conditions. Isaac Taylor. Epistola ad Diognetum. The Beginning of Dangerous Heresies. Baptismal Salvation. Metropolitan Bishops. Gregory the Great. The Baptism of Believers. The Fathers. The Early Councils and Infant Baptism. The Baptism of Adults Who Had Christian Parents. The First Law and The First Rule for Infant Baptism. The Testimony of Scholars. The Form of Baptism. Six Rituals on the Subject. The Christian Monuments. The Catacombs. The Baptisteries. Clinic Baptism. Religious Liberty. Tertullian, Justin Martyr and Lactatius. Constantine the Great Issues an Edict. Theodosius the Great Enforces Religion by Law. CHAPTER 3 THE STRUGULE AGAINST CORRUPTION. Incorruptible Churches. The Testimony of Bunsen. The Montanist Churches. The Anabaptism. The Spread of the Movement. The Novatian Churches. Robinson Traces Them to the Reformation. They Were Called Anabaptists. The Donatist Churches. Their Origin. Rejected Infant Baptism. Benedict. Lincoln. Augustine. Liberty of Conscience. Neander. Their Attitude Toward Liberty. Their Protest. CHAPTER 4 THE PAULICIAN AND BOGOMIL CHURCHES. The Sources of Information. The Greeks, The Armenians. "The Key of Truth.". The Apostolic Origin. They Rejected Other Communions. The Story of Constantine. The Connection of the Mohammedans. The Sabians. The Numbers of the Paulicians. Religious Liberty. The Free State of Teprice. Among the Albigenses in France. Persecuted. Conybeare on Baptist Succession. Justin A. Smith. Widely Scattered in Europe. the Paulicians not Manichaeans. Their Doctrines. The Synod of Arras. A Confession of Faith. The Adoptionists. The Form of Baptism. Macarius. The Oriental Church. The Bogomils. Brockett. Their Persecutions. The Form of Baptism. CHAPTER 5 THE ALBIGENSIAN, THE PETROBRUSIAN, THE HENRICIAN, THE ARNOLDIST, AND THE BERENGARLAN CHURCHES. The Origin and Spread of These Churches. Prof. Bury. Their History. Their Good Character. Their Writings Destroyed. They Were Not Manichaeans. Two Classes of Believers. In Southern France. The Crusades Against Them. Their Doctrines. Rejected Infant Baptism. Peter of Bruys. His Opinions. The Petrobrusians Accused of Being Anabaptists. Henry of Lanusanne. His Great Success. Held the Opinions of the Anabaptists. Arnold of Brescia. The Testimony of Otto Freising. The Arnoldist. Berengarius. His Troubled Career. CHAPTER 6 THE WALDENSLAN CHURCHES. The Alps as a Hiding Place. Peter Waldo. The Preaching Tour. Origin of the Waldenses. The Name. Roman Catholic Historians on Their Origin. Rainerio Sacchoni. Preger. The Statement of the Waldenses. The Noble Lessons. The Reformers. Beza. Later Writers. The Special Historians of the Waldenses. Faber. Moreland. Claudius Seisselius on Their Character. Their Manners and Customs. Their Principles. Infant Baptism. Their Change of Views in Regard to the Practice. Adult Baptism. Immersion. CHAPTER 7 THE ORGIN OF THE ANABAPTIST CHURCHES. The Anabaptist Movement. Mosheim. Sir Isaac Newton. Alexander Campbell. Robert Barclay. Von Usinger. Sacchoni. Cardinal Hosius. Luther. Zwingli. Anabaptism no New Thing. They Were Found in Many Lands. Different Leaders. Kinship to The Waldenses. Limborch. Keller. Moeller. Lindsay. The Waldenses and The Anabaptists Found in the Same Places. Waldensian Preachers Found Among the Anabaptists. Points of Agreement. The Anabaptists Claimed a Succession From Earlier Times. The Antiquity of the Netherland Baptists. The Swiss. Moravia. The Picards. Erasmus. Sebastian Frank. Schyn. Abrahamson. Ypeij and Dermout. CHAPTER 8 THE CHARACTOR OF THE ANABAPTISTS. Called by Many
An analysis that challenges the conventional Christian hierarchy of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth While the Christian tradition has subordinated John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth, John himself would likely have disagreed with that ranking. In this eye-opening new book, John the Baptist in History and Theology, Joel Marcus makes a powerful case that John saw himself, not Jesus, as the proclaimer and initiator of the kingdom of God and his own ministry as the center of God's saving action in history. Although the Fourth Gospel has the Baptist saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease," Marcus contends that this and other biblical and extrabiblical evidence reveal a continuing competition between the two men that early Christians sought to muffle. Like Jesus, John was an apocalyptic prophet who looked forward to the imminent end of the world and the establishment of God's rule on earth. Originally a member of the Dead Sea Sect, an apocalyptic community within Judaism, John broke with the group over his growing conviction that he himself was Elijah, the end-time prophet who would inaugurate God's kingdom on earth. Through his ministry of baptism, he ushered all who came to him—Jews and non-Jews alike—into this dawning new age. Jesus began his career as a follower of the Baptist, but, like other successor figures in religious history, he parted ways from his predecessor as he became convinced of his own centrality in God's purposes. Meanwhile John's mass following and apocalyptic message became political threats to Herod Antipas, who had John executed to abort any revolutionary movement. Based on close critical-historical readings of early texts—including the accounts of John in the Gospels and in Josephus's Antiquities—as well as parallels from later religious movements, John the Baptist in History and Theology situates the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism and compares him to other apocalyptic thinkers from ancient and modern times. It concludes with thoughtful reflections on how its revisionist interpretations might be incorporated into the Christian faith.
...an important contribution...it is difficult to see how the historical argument could be any better presented than has been done by James McGoldrick.
God has provided a way for all people, not just scholars, to know that the Bible is the Word of God. John Piper has devoted his life to showing us that the glory of God is object of the soul’s happiness. Now, his burden in this book is to demonstrate that this same glory is the ground of the mind’s certainty. God’s peculiar glory shines through his Word. The Spirit of God enlightens the eyes of our hearts. And in one self-authenticating sight, our minds are sure and our hearts are satisfied. Justified certainty and solid joy meet in the peculiar glory of God.
