Anthony R Cross & John H Y Briggs (Eds) (2014) Freedom and the powers: perspectives from Baptist history marking the 400th anniversary of Thomas Helwys’ “The mystery of iniquity”. Baptist Historical Society, Didcot.
From the persecution of dissent in the seventeenth century to twentieth century ways of witnessing faithfully in both fascist and communist societies and beyond, this collection of essays presents the diverse ways in which the members of the gathered church have related to the powers of the state, as also to the shaping forces of industrialism, market capitalism, imperialism, and wider cultural pressures. In this world, in which armed conflict plays its part, access to power is seen to be moulded as much by controlling creed as by dominant class and supposed superiority of race. Such divisions are seen to operate within the church as well as within society at large.