Dan Taylor (1738-1816), Baptist Leader and Pioneering Evangelical

Dan Taylor was a leading English eighteenth-century General Baptist minister and founder of the New Connexion of General Baptists--a revival movement. This book provides considerable new light on the theological thinking of this important evangelical figure. The major themes examined are Taylor's spiritual formation; soteriology; understanding of the atonement; beliefs regarding the means and process of conversion; ecclesiology; approach to baptism, the Lord's Supper, and worship; and missiology. The nature of Taylor's evangelicalism--its central characteristics, underlying tendencies, evidence of the shaping influence of certain Enlightenment values, and ways that it was outworked--reflect that which was distinct about evangelicalism as a movement emerging from the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival. It is thus especially relevant to recent debates regarding the origins of evangelicalism. Taylor's evangelicalism was particularly marked by its pioneering nature. His propensity for innovation serves as a unifying theme throughout the book, with many of its accompanying patterns of thinking and practical expressions demonstrating that which was distinct about evangelicalism in the eighteenth century. ""Dan Taylor is the great hero of the English evangelical General Baptists. His commitment to freedom and to the proclamation of the gospel helped renew the movement and made a major contribution to the Baptist tradition as a whole. Richard Pollard's engaging, informative, and intriguing appraisal of Taylor's thoughts and activities shows him to have been a creative thinker and an innovative practitioner with a great deal to teach our own generation."" --Stephen Finamore, Principal of the Bristol Baptist College, England ""Dan Taylor was a ground-breaking eighteenth-century Baptist leader and a shaping evangelical figure. Yet he has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. This splendid study by Richard Pollard does full justice to Taylor's strategic ministry and in particular to his theological contribution. Pollard's probing analysis should be read by everyone who wishes to gain new insights into crucial Baptist and evangelical developments in what was a time of complex religious upheaval."" --Ian Randall, Senior Research Fellow, Spurgeon's College, London ""On the foundation of an expert grasp of historical detail and context, the author makes an intriguing enquiry into the kind of evangelicalism that Dan Taylor represented, influenced both by the Enlightenment and the Evangelical Revival. The author paints a convincing portrait of a Baptist leader who showed creativity and innovation in ecclesiology and mission. Of absorbing interest, both scholarly and highly accessible, this is essential reading in the Baptist way of being church."" --Paul S. Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Oxford ""Both the details and the broad sweep of Taylor's ministry are brought into focus as never before and this study makes a real contribution to our understanding of Baptist heritage, as well as illuminating wider trends. In my view, it is the best study of an English General Baptist figure ever written."" --Peter J. Morden, from the foreword Richard T. Pollard is Minister and Team Leader of Fishponds Baptist Church, Bristol, England.