A CRITIQUE OF THE ENGLISH
SEPARATIST DESCENT THEORY IN
BAPTIST HISTORIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to express appreciation to Baylor University Professors Glenn 0. Hilburn, James E. Wood, Jr., and Lyle C. Brown for their patience and helpful directions which enabled him to conduct proper research, to evaluate critically and compile his findings, and to put his findings and conclusions in acceptable form. Moreover, Mrs. Mary Hughes, who came to the rescue on short notice, deserves special commendation for her editing and typing. Especially helpful in securing necessary research materials were the Baylor University Library staff, particularly Mrs. Jean Tolbert, Tidwell Bible Librarian, and Miss Estaline Cox, Reference and Documents Librarian. The author is grateful to President Gerald D. Kellar and Dean W. J. Dorman of the North American Theological Seminary of Jacksonville, Texas, for arranging his teaching schedule in a manner which permitted him to pursue his graduate studies at Baylor University, 1964-1966.

The genesis of the thesis actually began in the academic year of 1964-1965. In seminars of Professors C. W. Christian and James E. Wood, Jr., the author presented reports delineating various aspects of sixteenth century Anabaptist theology. Being a Baptist, the author began to speculate concerning the precise relationship of seventeenth century English Baptists and Continental Anabaptists. Resultant growing interest in these movements and subsequent conferences with Professors Wood and Hilburn led to the selection, in October, 1965, of the following study. Since a detailed exposition of the three basic theories of Baptist origins would have been of greater scope than desirable in a thesis for a Master of Arts degree, the study was limited, therefore, to "A Critique of the English Separatist Descent Theory in Baptist Historiography."

The Reformed Reader Home Page  Copyright 1999, The Reformed Reader, All Rights Reserved