Resources for studying Baptist Confessions
Resources available for examining Baptist confessional documents:
primary sources: confessions themselves and committee reports.
Secondary sources: commentaries on the documents and their background, historical analyses and doctrinal works.
This page provides access to the requisite primary sources for studying the Baptist Faith and Message (hereafter BFAM) in its three editions.
For works dealing with the historical background to the 2000 edition of the BFAM, please consult the "SBC Controversy History" tab in this guide.
Southern Baptist Confessions
- Comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and MessageLinks to a web document with the text of the three versions of the Southern Baptist Convention's confessional document, the Baptist Faith and Message, displayed in clear, tripartite columns.
- Baptist Faith & MessageLinks to SBC website page with translations of the 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message in a number of languages.
Baptist Creeds - Exposition, History and Commentary
A modern exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6335 .W29x 1989ISBN: 08523426831989 republication of the Second London Confession of 1689 (or Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689). Dr. Paul Martin's introduction provides an apology for the legitimacy of Baptist confessions and their use.
Against returning to Egypt : exposing and resisting credalism in the Southern Baptist Convention by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6462.7 .P66 1998ISBN: 0865545537A "Critical commentary on" the "Report of the Presidential Theological Study Committee (1993)." Asserts that the Report is in fact a Calvinistic credal document masked in conventional "SBC anticredal language."
Baptist confessions of faith by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6335 .L8 1969bComprehensive collection of Baptist confessions, together with their evangelical, Anabaptist and English Separatist-Baptist predecessors.
Baptist confessions, covenants, and catechisms by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6335 .B29 1996ISBN: 0805412611A collection of historic Baptist confessional documents promulgated between 1527 and 1994. Includes the text of the SBC "Report of the Presidential Theological Study Committee (1994)," pp. 147-169.
Baptists in Europe: history & confessions of faith by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6335 .B34 1982ISBN: 0805465642 (PBK.)"Present(s) the major current Baptist confessions of faith in their historical context." (preface -- pp. 14-15)- Confession(alism)s of a Baptist [microform] : writings on Baptist distinctives as confessional theology by Call Number: Jones Microfiche Ref 190 LIB USE ONLY
Sacred mandates of conscience : interpretations of the Baptist faith and message by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6462.7 .S33 1997ISBN: 1573121657Theological commentary and exposition of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message by moderate SBC theologians.
Stand with Christ : why missionaries can't sign the 2000 Baptist faith and message by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6462.7 .S73 2002ISBN: 1573124036Publication Date: 2002A wide ranging critique of the 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message by theologians, missionaries and church leaders opposed to its implications. Especially noteworthy chapters include: Russell Dilday's "A Serious Look at the Baptist Faith and Message Revisions" (pp. 33-54) and Charles Deweese's "Historic Baptists Denounce Creedalism" (pp. 71-90).
The Baptist faith and message 2000 : critical issues in America's largest Protestant denomination by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6461.7 .B37 2007ISBN: 0742551024A scholarly defense of the 18 articles of the 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message by its theological supporters.
The making of the 1963 Baptist faith and message by Call Number: Moody General Collection BX6335 .S65 2008ISBN: 1556354266A chronicle of the historic and theological background to the 1963 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message. Notable chapters include chapters 4 and 5 which advocate for confessionalism and chapter 7 "Substantive changes in the Baptist Faith and Message."
