Baptists and Public Life in Canada

Description: Public discussion about the relationship between religion and public life in Canada can be heated at times, and scholars have recently focused on the historical study of the many expressions of this relationship. The experience of Canada's smaller Protestant Christian groups, however, has remained largely unexplored. This is particularly true of Canada's Baptists. This volume, the first produced by the Canadian Baptist Historical Society, explores the connections between Baptist faith and Baptist activity in the public domain, and expands the focus of the existing scholarship to include a wide range of Canadian Baptist beliefs, attitudes, perspectives, and actions related to the relationship between Baptist faith and practice and public life. Endorsements: "Although Canadian Baptists have been ardently committed to the separation of church and state, they have never understood this to mean withdrawal from the public square into some sort of Baptist monastery. This fresh collection of essays clearly demonstrates this by solid research into the various ways that Baptists have indeed been involved in Canadian life and culture. As such, it provides an excellent resource for a 'thicker' interpretation of the Canadian Baptist experience." -Michael A.G. Haykin Professor of Church History The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary "The public arena in Canada has been the scene of vigorous combats involving Baptists on social, political, and intellectual questions as well as on ecclesiastical issues. Here is a set of vivid cameos of members of the denomination contesting dominion from sea to sea." -David Bebbington Professor of History University of Stirling, Scotland "Building on a generation of Canadian Baptist and Canadian Religious historical scholarship, this fine volume of essays develops a more nuanced and in-depth look at some key issues and Baptist leaders before 1950. The papers contribute some significant insights that add positively, not only to our understanding of the role of Baptists in public life, but to the important role religion played in Canadian public life." -Robert Wilson Professor of Church History Acadia Divinity College About the Contributor(s): Gordon L. Heath is Associate Professor of Christian History at McMaster Divinity College, and serves as Director of the Canadian Baptist Archives. He is the author of A War with a Silver Lining: Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899-1902 (2009), Doing Church History (2008), and co-author with Stanley E. Porter of The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction (2007). Paul R. Wilson was for thirteen years the Director/Professor of General Education Studies at Heritage College and Seminary. He is the editor of T. T. Shields: Reflections on the Legacy of a Baptist Fundamentalist (forthcoming).