Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 06:2 (Winter 2015)
Article: Contesting "Contesting Catholicity": Some Conservative Reflections On Curtis Freeman’s Theology For “Other Baptists”
Author: Nathan A. Finn

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STR 6:2 (Winter 2015) p. 151

Contesting Contesting Catholicity:
Some Conservative Reflections On Curtis
Freeman’s Theology For “Other Baptists”

Nathan A. Finn

Union University

Introduction

Longtime Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary church historian William Estep once argued “the Southern Baptist historical experience can best be understood as a search for identity.”1Many scholars would agree with Estep’s assessment. Southern Baptists seem perennially interested in defining, debating, and defending their respective identities. This remains true of Baptists in other locales as well. In fact, Baptist scholars all over the English-speaking world seem interested in matters of Baptist identity, as evidenced in the number of books and essays devoted to this topic over the past quarter century.2 Southern Baptists and self-

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proclaimed “moderate” Baptists affiliated with groups like Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists seem especially concerned with matters of Baptist identity. This is in part a result of the way their differing visions of Baptist identity have shaped denominational controversies within the Southern Baptist Convention during the latter half of the twentieth century.3

Since the mid-1990s, Southern Baptist identity debates have normally boiled down to four recurring, sometimes overlapping issues: 1) the resurgence of Calvinistic soteriology among Southern Baptists; 2) evolving ecclesiological practices, especially those related to church polity and leadership; 3) the difficulties in affirming a full-throated denominationalism in an increasingly post-denominational and even post-Christian era; and 4) shifting paradigms for both mission work itself and interchurch cooperation for the sake of mission. During this same period, moderate Baptists have also wrestled with many of the newer trends related to church polity, denominationalism, and mission. Moderates have also debated some issues that are less applicable among conservative Southern Baptists, including the place of women in pastoral leadership and the integration of practicing homosexuals into the life of the church. However, the moderate identity debate that has probably inspired the most written material during the past two decades has been the question of Baptist catholicity—what is often called

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the “Bapto-Catholic” movement.4 This latter debate provides the focus of t...

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