In this episode we'll be discussing John Smyth and his contribution to the Baptist faith. Though his theological perspectives were never quite static - evolving from Puritan to Separatist, to Baptist, to Mennonite - he is considered by most a denominational forerunner and to have founded the first identifiable Baptist church in Holland in 1609. He rejected infant baptism, subsequently baptized himself (believer's baptism) and his congregation, while self-exiling in Amsterdam. During his early ministry he was closely associated with John Robinson, the pastor of the "Pilgrims", though the two eventually parted ways (geographically and theologically). Smyth's story fits into the broader narrative of evangelicalism and the development and spread of Congregationalism as it traveled to America in the seventeenth century.
Full transcript with footnotes and citations can be found at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-UQuJCqykNYwpkNRdp71vGTjjJtbFmU/view?usp=sharing
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