Baptist History Publications

This Page is dedicated to promoting publications of seventeenth-century Particular Baptist historiography. Specifically, I want to promote works that are engaging in the ressourcement of Baptist history. There is a wealth of material in Britain’s archives awaiting diligent investigation, materials that shed entirely new and important light on the lives of Baptist men and women. Ressourcement means studying original records afresh in order to prove, disprove, or modify previous Baptist historiography.

This is a field of research in need of greater visibility and participation. It is also a field requiring some level of guidance and training. The works promoted here provide a pattern of direction and method to be followed by others.

William Kiffen and His World

Larry Kreitzer, of Regent’s Park College, Oxford, has been setting the example and leading the way in ressourcement for some years now through his project William Kiffen and His World. There are currently six volumes, full of primary source materials. Click the link above for more information. These volumes are currently available from Amazon.

From Shadow to Substance

This is a volume of historical theology, focusing on Particular Baptist covenant theology in the seventeenth century.

The Petty France Church (c.1656-1727)

This is a work I intend to publish in several volumes. The scope of the project is to provide a history of this important church by bringing together as many archival sources as possible in order to introduce Baptists to one of the central churches of London Particular Baptist life. In so doing, many errors or incorrect suppositions are corrected. Given that this church eventually merged with Devonshire Square, it parallels nicely and complements the Kiffen volumes referenced above.

Part One, available for purchase here, includes:

My plan for future volumes on the church includes:

• A biography of William Collins with all new archival sources (there has been almost nothing known of Collins)
  • Collins’ first and second marriages
  • Collins’ inheritance of a Rectory
  • Collins’ will
  • And more
• The Harrison and Collett families
• The Grainge and Locke families
• Information on Samuel Tull, a pastor of the church
• Information on the deacons of the church
• The wills of Petty France members, and other life details (birth, marriage, family, death, apprenticeships, etc.)

I’m also excited to make connections in this project between the Petty France church and:

• Many other Particular Baptist churches
• Independent churches
• James, Duke of Monmouth, his life and death (rebellion)
• James II and the Repeal Campaign
• John Locke
• Jane Austen
• Thomas Gainsborough
• A Governor of India
• And more.

– Thomas Crosby