Episode 6 - John Smyth the Se-Baptist, Part Two

In this episode we are continuing the story of John Smyth and John Robinson’s congregations as they escape from England and head to Amsterdam in 1607/1608. This moment is important for a number of reasons, but two particular things stand out: 1) Smyth baptizes his congregation as believing adults (believer’s baptism), which was deemed a heresy during Medieval Christianity and 2) Robinson leads a faction of the group to the city of Leiden, where they worship until their decision to travel to America as pilgrims in 1620.  We will be focused mostly on the actions of Smyth, as he is credited with forming the first Baptist church in Holland in 1609 – though not necessarily prototypical. Other subjects discussed in the episode are the “Radical Reformation” and the differences between paedobaptism (infant baptism) and credobaptism (believer’s baptism). Lastly, we end with Smyth’s defection to join the Mennonites and Helwys’ courageous move to return to England and fight for religious liberty in his homeland.

Full transcript with footnotes and citations can be found at:
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MulUMKxDU33tTe3W7jC1IeBJaekezJlu/view?usp=sharing

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Or email me at - ryanhoffer@hotmail.com