As we journey through our summer series Free and Faithful: Exploring Baptist Life, I plan to share various books along the way for those who might like to read more about a given topic. For this week, those interested in an overview on Baptist life, especially the confessions of faith we hold at Bayshore and in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, I recommend the two books below. Enjoy! -Alex
Hobbs, Herschel. The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville, TN: Convention Press, 1971.
Hobbs offers a great commentary and interpretation on the Baptist Faith and Message. Written before the split in the Southern Baptist Convention which led to the creation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Hobbs optimism reminds us of the glory days of the SBC when theological diversity, freedom, and cooperation won the day. Make sure you get a copy written by Hobbs and not one revised by others. The older the better!
Shurden, Walter B. The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Pub., 2013.
Shurden writes on Baptist tradition as practiced by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Celebrating the classic Baptist commitment to freedom in biblical interpretation and theology, Shurden understands Baptist life to be the “four fragile freedoms” of soul freedom, bible freedom, church freedom, and religious freedom. The Baptist Identity is a guide to Baptist faith and practice for churches like Bayshore.