The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 6 – An Assessment of the Core Values

Read Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five. Three Aspects of the Core Values             The previous posts are merely a sketch of the four core values held by the CBF and therefore affirmed by its affiliating churches. However, three more aspects of these core values should be noted. First, there is nothing in theContinue reading “The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 6 – An Assessment of the Core Values”

The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 5 – Religious Freedom

Read Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.             The final core value that Shurden listed in The Baptist Identity is religious freedom. Shurden states, “Religious Freedomis the historic Baptist affirmation of freedom OF religion, freedom FOR religion, and freedom FROM religion, insisting that Caesar is not Christ and Christ is not Caesar.”[1] This seemsContinue reading “The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 5 – Religious Freedom”

The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 4 – Church Freedom

Read Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.             In 1991, Church Freedom was understood as “the historic Baptist affirmation that local churches are free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whom they perceive as gifted for ministry, male or female, and to participateContinue reading “The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 4 – Church Freedom”

The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 3 – Bible Freedom

           Read Part One and Part Two. Bible Freedom was defined in 1991 as “the historic Baptist affirmation that the Bible, under the Lordship of Christ, must be central in the life of the individual and church and that Christians, with the best and most scholarly tools of inquiry, are both free and obligated to study andContinue reading “The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 3 – Bible Freedom”

The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 2 – Soul Freedom

Read the introduction.          Shurden defines Soul Freedom as “the historic Baptist affirmation of the inalienable rights and responsibility of every person to deal with God without the imposition of creed, the interference of clergy, or the intervention of civil government.”[1] Soul freedom affirms individual choice and moral responsibility before God. Doctrines such as “soul competency”Continue reading “The Doctrinal Trajectory of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in the First Thirty Years, Pt. 2 – Soul Freedom”