The edwardsean isaac backus: The significance of Jonathan Edwards in Backus's theology, history, and defense of religious liberty

This dissertation explores the ways in which Isaac Backus employed Jonathan Edwards in his theological, public, and historical writings. It demonstrates that Backus found in Edwards the theological and historical resources to synthesize his own convictions on ecclesial separation, baptism, and church-state relations and to defend his claim that the Baptists were the true heirs of the New England spiritual tradition. Unlike previous interpretations of Backus, which fail to identify the ways in which Backus's writings on theology, religious liberty, and church history are related, this dissertation demonstrates the explicit integration of these major themes in the Backus corpus. In doing so, it argues that Backus did not adhere to an "Edwardsean school"; instead, he viewed Edwards a hinge connecting Baptists to the older New England tradition, which legitimated his claim that the Reformation culminated in the Reformed Baptist movement. In short, Backus was an Edwardsean because he perceived Edwards as an ally in recovering the true spirit of New England's Christian fathers. The chapters elucidate the ways Backus adopted and adapted the theology and example of Edwards to buttress his defense of Baptist doctrines, including believers baptism and pure church ecclesiology. They argue that an Edwardsean view of the human will undergirds Backus's case for religious liberty, which developed in two stages. Near the end of his life Backus argued forcefully that the Baptist doctrines he defended were not only biblical, they were also the core commitments of the founding fathers of New England, a point he proves by appeal to the writings and example of Jonathan Edwards. The dissertation suggests, in the final analysis, that Backus's use of Edwards was consistent with Backus's view of the authority of scripture and tradition. It concludes that Backus understood himself and his view of religious liberty as emerging naturally from his self-conscious identification with the Reformed tradition broadly defined.