Baptists and the Holy Spirit - by C Douglas Weaver (Hardcover)

About the Book

However, as Weaver shows, Baptist interactions with the Holiness, Pentecostal, and charismatic movements and their vibrant experience with the Spirit were key in shaping Baptist identity and theology.

Book Synopsis

The record is clear that Baptists, historically, have prioritized conversion, Jesus, and God. Equally clear is that Baptists have never known what to do with the Holy Spirit.

In Baptists and the Holy Spirit, Baptist historian C. Douglas Weaver traces the way Baptists have engaged--and, at times, embraced--the Holiness, Pentecostal, and charismatic movements. Chronicling the interactions between Baptists and these Spirit-filled movements reveals the historical context for the development of Baptists' theology of the Spirit.

Baptists and the Holy Spirit provides the first in-depth interpretation of Baptist involvement with the Holiness, Pentecostal, and charismatic movements that have found a prominent place in America's religious landscape. Weaver reads these traditions through the nuanced lens of Baptist identity, as well as the frames of gender, race, and class. He shows that, while most Baptists reacted against all three Spirit-focused groups, each movement flourished among a Baptist minority who were attracted by the post-conversion experience of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit." Weaver also explores the overlap between Baptist and Pentecostal efforts to restore and embody the practices and experiences of the New Testament church. The diversity of Baptists--Southern Baptist, American Baptist, African American Baptist--leads to an equally diverse understanding of the Spirit. Even those who strongly opposed charismatic expressions of the Spirit still acknowledged a connection between the Holy Spirit and a holy life.

If, historically, Baptists were suspicious of Roman Catholics' ecclesial hierarchy, then Baptists were equally wary of free church pneumatology. However, as Weaver shows, Baptist interactions with the Holiness, Pentecostal, and charismatic movements and their vibrant experience with the Spirit were key in shaping Baptist identity and theology.

Review Quotes

In addition to his basic (and convincing) argument, Weaver's work is a rich compendium of information, and may well be used as a gateway for further research into individual episodes in this history.... Weaver's book is clearly the fruit of many years' work and will be of value to anyone concerned with the lively question of the place of the Holy Spirit in Baptist life.

--Scott Kohler "Journal of European Baptist Studies"

C. Douglas Weaver, Professor of Baptist Studies at Baylor University, has provided the definitive historical account of the relation of Baptists to the Holiness-Pentecostal- Charismatic movements. He has filled a gap that has surprisingly existed in the studies of these movements for over a century. Weaver's volume of more than 500 pages takes its place alongside similar landmark works such as Vinson Synan's The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century (Eerdmans, 1997) and David Edwin Harrell, Jr.'s All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America (Indiana University Press, 1975). Influenced by Harrell, Weaver's history evinces the same meticulous scholarship combined with a lucid and engaging narrative that one finds in Harrell's history as well as his authoritative biography, Oral Roberts: An American Life (Indiana University Press, 1985)."(Indiana University Press, 1985).

--Larry Hart "Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology"

...Doug Weaver offers the best analysis of how Baptists have responded to practical pneumatology available in a single volume. It is nothing short of an amazing feat.

--Keith Harper "Church History"

...A masterpiece.

--Amber Thomas "Journal of Ecclesiastical History"

Baptists and the Holy Spirit will be a good resource for students of Baptist history and also for students of the Holiness-Pentecostal-Charismatic movements. It could even serve as a primary text for an advanced course in Baptist history or used alongside other texts for an advanced course on the historical-theological development of the Holiness-Pentecostal-Charismatic movements.

--Karen Lucas "Pneuma"

Baptists and the Holy Spirit will be very valuable for anyone interested in Baptist history, Pentecostal history, and American religious history. It will also make a great text for graduate seminars in these fields. This thorough, clear, well-written, lively, and enjoyable masterpiece of American religious history makes a unique contribution to scholarship, in that the details of the interactions within it have rarely been discussed in previous literature.

--Francis X. Gumerlock "Fides et Historia"

The research contained in this volume is simply magnificent.

--Jeffrey P. Straub "Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal"

Few works have the power to be instantly recognized as not only a singular, self-contained work of painstaking scholarship, but also as a potential spark for several future research projects. Weaver's Baptists and the Holy Spirit is one of these few works.

--João Chaves "Baptist History and Heritage Journal"

Weaver covers the entirety of the Baptist tradition and the various embodiments of Baptist identity such as Southern Baptists, Black Baptists, and American Baptists. The research is thorough and the text is engaging. Weaver is to be commended for this important work.

-- "Choice"

Weaver paints a vivid and illuminating picture of the complicated relationship between Baptists and the Holiness, Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.

--Ken Camp "Baptist Standard"

About the Author

C. Douglas Weaver is Professor of Religion at Baylor University.