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John Carpenter's avatar

The only true "Baptist distinctive" is believers' baptism in the context of Reformed theology. Everything else is borrowed from Congregationalism.

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Casey McCall's avatar

That's true about every idea and belief. Everything is inherited from the past. That means nothing in the context of historical distinctives. You inherit tradition and preserve aspects of it and contextualize it in light of change over time until a distinct tradition occurs. You could trace that process through any distinct movement and tradition. If what you're saying is true, then no modern movement truly has "distinctives."

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John Carpenter's avatar

There is revelation which comes from outside human tradition.

Historically, Baptists are Congregationalists who embraced believers baptism. Virtually (if not literally) every aspect of their tradition is derived from Congregationalism, except for believers baptism. https://open.substack.com/pub/johncarpenter/p/baptist-polity-inherited-from-congregationalism?r=yky21&utm_medium=ios

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