Religious Dissent and the Formation of Separate Communities
Doctrine, History, and Context of Baptist Origins in England
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25188/2447.7443.2026v29.337Keywords:
English Separatism, Seventeenth-Century Baptists, Thomas Helwys, First London Baptist Confession, Freedom of Conscience, Believer’s BaptismAbstract
This article offers a historical and documentary study of the formation of the English Baptist tradition (c. 1580–1646/47). It reconstructs the legal-ecclesiastical framework of separatism (Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, recusants legislation) and surveys key actors and texts (Browne, Barrowe, Smyth, Helwys). The core corpus comprises the Declaration of Faith (1611) and the First London Baptist Confession (1644/1646), examined article by article, alongside an integral study of A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1612). The final section compares the Baptist confessions with the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646/1647) and the Dordrecht Confession (1632). Methodologically, the article combines external and internal criticism of documents, textual collation, Cambridge-school intellectual history, and synoptic comparison. Findings include: (i) the delineation of internal boundaries (General vs. Particular Baptists, with emphasis on the extent of the atonement); (ii) the congregational ecclesiology (believers’ church, covenant, discipline, ordinances) and its public implications; and (iii) the contribution of early Baptist sources to the history of freedom of conscience and church–state relations. The article also supplies a technical apparatus (annotated translation of key passages, references, and source pointers) to enable further documentary research.
References
A. FONTES PRIMÁRIAS (DOCUMENTOS)
A CONFESSION of Faith of seven congregations or churches of Christ in London, commonly (but unjustly) called Anabaptists. 2. ed. London: s.n., 1646.
A CONFESSION of Faith of several congregations or churches of Christ in London, which are commonly (but unjustly) called Anabaptists. London: [s.n.], 1644.
A TRUE CONFESSION of the faith and humble acknowledgment of the Ams. [Amsterdam?]: [s.n.], 1596.
BARROWE, Henry. A brief discovery of the false church. [S.l.]: [s.n.], 1590.[AD4.1]
BARROWE, Henry; GREENWOOD, John. A true description out of the word of God, of the visible church. [S.l.]: [s.n.], 1589.[AD5.1][UC5.2]
BROWNE, Robert. A treatise of reformation without tarrying for any. [S.l.]: [s.n.], 1582.
DORDRECHT Confession of Faith. Dordrecht: [s.n.], 1632.
FIRST London Baptist Confession. London: [s.n.], 1644.
FIRST London Baptist Confession. London: [s.n.], 1646.
GREAT BRITAIN. Statutes of the Realm. Vol. 3 (1509–1545). London: Record Commission, 1817.
GREAT BRITAIN. Statutes of the Realm. Vol. 4, pts. 1–2 (1547–1603). London: Record Commission, 1819.
HELWYS, Thomas. A Declaration of Faith of English People Remaining at Amsterdam in Holland. [Amsterdam?]: [s.n.], 1611.
HELWYS, Thomas. A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1611/1612). Ed. e introd. Richard Groves. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1998. (Classics of Religious Liberty, 1).
HELWYS, Thomas. A shorte declaration of the mistery of iniquity. [Amsterdam?]: [s.n.], 1612.
IEAB – Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil. Livro de Oração Comum. Porto Alegre: Secretaria Geral da IEAB, 2015.
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646/1647). Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2017. (Edição de uso; além das edições originais)
B. ESTUDOS (HISTORIOGRAFIA, MÉTODO, EDIÇÕES CRÍTICAS)
ABRAHAMSE, J. M. The Stripping of the Ministry: A Reconsideration and Retrieval of Robert Browne’s Theology of Ordained Ministry. 2018. 412 p. Tese (PhD) – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 2018
BEBBINGTON, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
BLOCH, Marc. Apologia da história ou o ofício de historiador. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2002.
BOSSY, John. The English Catholic Community, 1570–1850. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1975.
BRACHLOW, Stephen. The Communion of Saints: Radical Puritan and Separatist Ecclesiology, 1570–1625. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
BRAGHT, Thieleman J. van. Martyrs Mirror. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1950.
BRAILSFORD, H. N. The Levellers and the English Revolution. London: Cresset, 1961.
CARDOSO, Ciro F.; VAINFAS, Ronaldo (Org.). Domínios da História. Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 1997.
CHARTIER, Roger. A ordem dos livros. Brasília: UnB, 1994.
CHARTIER, Roger. Inscrever e apagar. São Paulo: Unesp, 2002.
COFFEY, John. Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England, 1558–1689. Harlow: Longman, 2000.
DAVIS, J. C. Fear, Myth and History: The Ranters and the Historians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
DURNBAUGH, Donald F. The Believers’ Church. 2. ed. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1985.
DUSILEK, Sérgio Ricardo Gonçalves; MARIA, Tayná Louise de. (Org.). A Noiva sob o Véu: Novos olhares sobre a participação das Igrejas Evangélicas nas Eleições de 2022. Rio de Janeiro: Menocchio Editora, 2024.[AD6.1][UC6.2]
ESTEP, William R. The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism. 3. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
FARGE, Arlette. O sabor do arquivo. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, 2009.
FOXLEY, Rachel. The Levellers: Radical Political Thought in the English Revolution. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7228/manchester/9780719089367.001.0001
GUY, John. Tudor England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
HAIGH, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198221630.001.0001
HARDER, Leland (Ed.). The Sources of Swiss Anabaptism: A Reader in Anabaptist History and Theology. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1985.
HAYKIN, Michael A. G. Kiffin, Knollys and Keach: Rediscovering English Baptist Heritage. Leeds: Reformation Today Trust, 1996.
HILL, Christopher. The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. London: Penguin, 1972.
HILL, Christopher. The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1987.
LEONARD, Bill J. Baptist Ways: A History. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2003.
LOADES, David. As rainhas Tudor: o poder no feminino em Inglaterra (sécs. XV–XVII). Cascais: Caleidoscópio, 2010.
LOCKE, John. A Letter Concerning Toleration and Other Writings. Ed. Mark Goldie. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2010.
LUMPKIN, William L. Baptist Confessions of Faith. Rev. ed. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1969.
MacCULLOCH, Diarmaid. The Reformation: A History. New York: Viking, 2004.
MARSHALL, John. John Locke, Toleration and Early Enlightenment Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
McBETH, H. Leon. The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness. Nashville: Broadman, 1987.
McGREGOR, J. F.; REAY, Barry (Eds.). Radical Religion in the English Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.
QUESTIER, Michael. Catholicism and Community in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511496004
REILY, Duncan A. História documental do protestantismo no Brasil. 3. ed. São Paulo: ASTE, 2004.
ROCHA, João Cezar de Castro. Bolsonarismo: da guerra cultural ao terrorismo doméstico: Retórica do ódio e dissonância cognitiva coletiva. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2023.[AD7.1][UC7.2]
SHURDEN, Walter B. The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 1993.
SKINNER, Quentin. Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511598579
SKINNER, Quentin. Visions of Politics. Volume I: Regarding Method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
TULLY, James (Ed.). A Letter Concerning Toleration. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983.
WALSHAM, Alexandra M. Church Papists: Catholicism, Conformity and Confessional Polemic in Early Modern England. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1993.
WHITE, B. R. The English Baptists of the Seventeenth Century. Didcot: The Baptist Historical Society, 1983.
WHITE, B. R. The English Baptists of the Seventeenth Century. Didcot: Baptist Historical Society, 1996.
WHITLEY, W. T. (Ed.). The Works of John Smyth. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915.
YODER, John H. (Ed.). The Legacy of Michael Sattler. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1973.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Uipirangi Franklin da Silva Câmara, Sérgio Dusilek (Autor/a)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Vox Scripturae é licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons Atribuição – Não Comercial – Sem Derivações 4.0 internacional. Os artigos ficam disponibilizados a um público maior, mas com determinadas restrições. A licença específica para os artigos de nossa revista indica que (a) há permissão para cópia, distribuição e execução da obra, devendo o crédito ser atribuído ao autor; (b) o artigo não pode ser utilizado para fins comerciais; (c) há permissão aos usuários para copiar, distribuir e executar cópias exatas dos artigos, mas jamais obras derivadas. Para obter detalhes, acesse https://creativecommons.org/.
