The Free Will Baptists

In this scholarly treatment of a lesser-known denomination, J. Matthew Pinson offers a comprehensive history of the Free Will Baptist movement—a distinct theological tradition within the larger Baptist family.

Traversing four centuries of history in his analysis, Pinson divides his study into five parts, arranged in chronological and geographical order. He traces the beginnings of the Free Will Baptists in the Carolinas from the late 1600s; the denomination’s early expansion across the Southeast; the rise and decline of the Northern Freewill Baptists; and the identity and development of the Free Will Baptist movement into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The scarcity of archival evidence for the history of Free Will Baptists in the American South makes the chronicling of their history challenging. To illustrate the development of ideas within the tradition over time, Pinson creatively engages a unique combination of primary source materials, including general conference and local church minutes, confessional documents, and worship materials such as hymnals. A scholarly history as accessible as it is comprehensive, The Free Will Baptists: A New History is a valuable resource for students of religious history as well as Baptist historians.