Churches in Context

Abstract

"Dr Bebbington and his team are to be congratulated on The Baptists of Scotland: A History [The Baptist Union of Scotland, 1988, 346 pp.+ xi]. The design is simple: four chronological chapters followed by fourteen regional studies, each with a map locating both continuing and extinct churches. This allows consideration of both the changing temporal and contrasting regional context to the church's mission, highlighting the inter-relatedness of gospel and culture, most strikingly seen in sections on the Highlands and Islands and missionary endeavour in Gaelic. Here the cultural context is conspicuously different - but has any church really succeeded in developing a compelling Christian apologetic in a context of working class culture."