What Baptists Believe

The title of this book sums up exactly what it is about. I do appreciate the introduction where Hobbs states that being a Baptist means having the right to interpret the scriptures for yourself, thus this really is what one Baptist (Hobbs) believes. Though I find the stance on the wide variety of topics to be that of traditional Baptists. All that stated, this book covers a very wide range of topics that most Christians (not just Baptists) will have opinions about. The book can be read straight through or easily used as a reference as the chapters are all independent of each other, and the chapters themselves are broken down into clearly noted subsections. The reason I gave this book four stars was not because it didn't go into much depth on the various subjects. I think one of the strengths of the book is that it presents a wide variety of topics, and if the reader wants more information about a particular idea, then they can research that on their on. The four stars came from the scriptural references and how Hobbs ties them to the topics. It would be very easy for the reader to skim over the verses that are noted, but when I looked them up, I found that many were taken out of context in order to support his point of view. In my opinion, I think Hobbs' case would have been stronger by leaving out some of those references and maybe just stating that a particular view came from Protestant tradition or an overall theme of the Bible or one of its books. Anyway, this should be a must read for Baptists, and I would suspect that most Protestants would agree with a majority of the views presented. Even if you are not a Christian, but interested in what it means to be a Baptist, this book will give you a great overview, and/or starting point for further research.

I read this book as a student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The book is a concise, general overview of Baptist doctrine. It is a good book for those investigating the differences between Baptists and other denominations. It doesn't get 5 stars because it is a little too simple to be outstanding, although that's what makes it easy to read.