Some Books on Southern Baptists
Posted by Chuck Grantham on June 12, 2008
In light of the ongoing SBC annual meeting and the popularity of the Arminian book list, I offer a small selection of books about my denomination for those interested.
Herschel H. Hobbs: Mr. Southern Baptist for a whole generation of us, Hobbs wrote the adult Sunday School lesson for the SBC for almost thirty years. His three most useful books about Southern Baptists are:
3. The Baptist Faith and Message: Hobbs’s 1997 revision of his 1971 study on the 1963 BFM. Recently supplanted by a 2008 version examining the 2000 BFM.
Non-Hobbs (though frequently Tom J. Nettles edited)
4. The Baptist faith and Message 2000: Critical Issues: Useful discussions of the articles of the BFM2000 and a side by side comparison of the 1925, 1963, and 2000 BFMs.
4. Theologians of the Baptist Tradition: Focusing on those whom Southern Baptists like to lay claim to.
5. Baptists and the Bible: The conservative viewpoint of inerrancy’s history among Southern Baptists
6. By His Grace and For His Glory: Tom Nettles’ book length argument that Calvinism was a bedrock for Southern Baptist founders that mid-twentieth century SBC leaders drifted away from.
7. Believer’s Baptism: Multi-author study of classic Baptist distinctive, still too short and too busy arguing with the Presbyterians for some reviewers.
8. Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue: A repeat recommendation, but it is a hot topic in the SBC and does give a good snapshot of the diversity that is the Southern Baptist Convention
9. Why I am a Baptist: More personal reflections on being Baptist from a range of essayists.
