Description
This exhaustive resource traces significant aspects of Baptist history from the 17th through the 20th centuries. It surveys basic beliefs, events, and experiences evident in Baptist communities and provides one of the most comprehensive resources on Baptist history available. Author Bill Leonard skillfully covers the:
• influence of the Baptist faith in the United States
• emergence of English, British, Irish, and Caribbean Baptists
• development of African American Baptists
• numerous denominations that emerged in the twentieth century
Students, teachers, professors, and pastors alike will find in Leonard's resource an exceptional history that provides a foundation for this enduring faith.
Reviews
"Suitable for both the classroom and the living room, this volume reflects a sensitivity to Baptist diversity at a time when Baptists are increasingly polarized. As a one volume introduction to Baptist history, Baptist Ways is a must-read and a worthy successor to previous Baptist surveys" —Bruce Gourley, The Baptist Studies Bulletin
"With this new book, [Leonard] has done a tremendous service to all who teach Baptist history courses in colleges, seminaries, and divinity schools." —CHOICE, Current Reviews for Academic Libraries
"We are in Bill Leonard's debt for accomplishing this almost impossible feat [a one-volume Baptist history] in an admirable fashion." —Baptist History and Heritage Journal
Author Bio
Bill J. Leonard holds the James and Marilyn Dunn Chair of Baptist Studies at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity where he was the founding dean. In 2010 he retired as dean but continued to teach church history in the divinity school and the religion department of the university.
Prior to joining the faculty of Wake Forest in 1996, Leonard served as Professor of Church History at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, 1975-1992. While there he was for a time Associate Dean, president of the Faculty Association, editor of the Review and Expositor, and W. W. Brooks Professor of American Religion. From 1992 to 1996 he was Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama.
Leonard is the author or editor of some 15 books including The Nature of the Church; Word of God Across the Ages: Using Church History in Preaching; God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention; Appalachian Christianity: Profiles in Regional Pluralism; Baptist Ways: A History; and Baptists in America. His most recent books are Baptist Questions, Baptist Answers, and The Baptist Bible (co-editor), both published in 2009. Leonard is also the author of over 400 articles published in a variety of journals, periodicals and books.
Dr. Leonard holds a BA from Texas Wesleyan College (1968), an MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1971), and a PhD from Boston University (1975).
His spouse, Dr. Candyce Crew Leonard, is professor of Humanities at Wake Forest University with specialization in Spanish literature. They have one daughter, Stephanie. The Leonard's are members of First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue, the oldest African American Baptist congregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.