General Baptist
- Grew from
- Baptist
- From
- 1609 AD
- Origin
- Amsterdam and England
- Confession
- Standard Confession 1660 AD
The older Baptist line, from the congregation John Smyth and Thomas Helwys gathered among English exiles in Amsterdam. Helwys returned to London in 1612, published the first English argument for full liberty of conscience — for Catholics, Jews and Muslims as much as for dissenters — and died in Newgate prison for it.
What marks it out
General atonement: Christ died for all, not for the elect alone, which is what "general" names and what divided this line from the Particular Baptists. Liberty of conscience as a matter of principle rather than convenience, argued before any state in Europe conceded it.
Alongside it
Also from Baptist.
- Particular Baptist (1638 AD)
- Restorationist churches (1801 AD)
- Southern Baptist (1845 AD)
- Adventist (1863 AD)
This body appears in the history but does not carry recorded doctrinal positions here, so it is absent from the comparison panels.