Cover of the "mythical" booklet "Trail of Blood"
What is the history of Baptists? Can they trace their roots back to the 1st century? Many ”fundamentalist” Baptists believe they can. Are they correct?
There is a booklet that is very popular among this fundamentalist crowd. It is entitled “The Trail of Blood”. The booklet claims that Catholics persecuted the true Christians — the Baptists — leaving behind a trail of blood.
I used to believe this premise and now that I have looked more carefully I wrote an article about this booklet and this the idea Baptists are the true Christians that have survived Catholic attempts to destroy them. Here is how my article begins:
“When Baptists attempt to discover the origins of their tradition they are faced with a historical dilemma. The search for Baptists roots hits a dead end in the sixteenth century. Most acknowledge that Baptist tradition is a tributary flowing out of the Protestant Reformation, but others attempt to discover a line of historical continuity, of doctrine and practice, back to Jesus and even John the Baptist. These Baptists are commonly referred to as “Baptist Successionists”. . . “
-For my full article on the Trail of Blood, click here (pdf).
-For other articles and references, click here.
-For more such articles and letters, click here.
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I am only vaguely familiar with church history, but I have a few questions about the Trail of Blood version of church history.
1. Do you think that those who wrote this information truly believed what they wrote, in spite of the twists, turns and omissions for which they would have had to account to make this viewpoint believable?
2. If they did believe this, how much did they have to stretch history to make their viewpoints convincing to themselves and others?
3. If they did not truly believe this, what was their motivation for developing this story? Were they trying to address arguments that supported the validity of the Catholic Church and felt it acceptable, perhaps even necessary and in service to the Gospel, to distort historical facts? Were they that concerned about people being duped into joining the “terrible” Roman Catholic Church?
I guess I wonder how much of this the writers of these booklets and the preachers who promulgated these viewpoints actually believed them.
Thanks and may God continue to bless you, your family and your ministry.
Dan