The Wapping Baptists

""Nathan Sherman has written a microhistory of the Baptist church at Wapping, a growing suburb of London on the River Thames, during the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Thorough examination of the church book together with careful research in many other sources has enabled him to identify no fewer than eighty-two certain and one hundred and sixty further probable members. Consequently, he can illuminate the interactions of the members with each other and with their pastor, the distinguished author Hercules Collins. The result is a vivid picture of how ordinary Baptists embodied their faith in a time of active persecution and insecure toleration."" --David Bebbington, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Stirling ""Nathan Sherman has produced a fascinating account of the Baptist congregation in Wapping in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, based on a detailed examination of their church book. The conclusions that he is able to draw about the day-to-day running of the church, the social and economic state of its members, and its relations with its pastors provide valuable insights into the dissenting and Baptist experience of those turbulent years and make a significant contribution to a better understanding of early particular Baptist church life."" --Robert Strivens, Pastor, Bradford Upon Avon Baptist Church ""Nathan Sherman's The Wapping Baptists examines one of London's most important Baptist congregations between the Restoration and the Glorious Revolution, situating the ministers and the people in a theological, ecclesiastical, and social context that illuminates early Baptist life in London with extraordinary detail. Sherman recreates a church whose dynamic ministers, such as Hercules Collins, shepherded a flock of Londoners from various walks of life, all of whom are brought to life through Sherman's expansive and in-depth research in ways not previously attempted or achieved in a church history. The Wapping Baptists establishes a standard that will enhance the study of church minute books for years to come."" --Timothy Whelan, Emeritus Professor of English, Georgia Southern University ""Historical works tend to focus on leaders, sometimes overlooking the lives of ordinary people. Nathan Sherman's deep dive into the Wapping Church Book recognizes the significant role Hercules Collins played among early Particular Baptists. But it reminds us that Baptist churches are first and foremost congregational. In addition to providing historical and sociological insights into one of the earliest Baptist congregations, Sherman's work will also encourage readers who share the same ecclesiological commitments as these early Baptists."" --Geoffrey Chang, Associate Professor of Church History and Historical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary ""In The Wapping Baptists, Nathan Sherman brings to life the hidden world of an ordinary London congregation. Through meticulous archival research, he illuminates the textures of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century church life--membership, discipline, preaching, and pastoral care--with clarity and warmth. This book reminds us that church history is ultimately the story of unknown men and women who 'though dead, yet speaketh' (Heb. 11:4), thanks to Sherman's careful recovery."" --Caleb Morell, Assistant Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church