Beschreibung:
As their collective identity coalesced through the seventeenth century, early English Baptists grounded their vision of a reformed church not only on right understanding of Scripture but also faithful dependence on the Holy Spirit. Consequently, they experimented with and contested a range of practices that would be recognised as‘Pentecostal’ in the present day. These practices included the laying on of hands for receiving the Holy Spirit, direct inspiration of the elements of worship such as songs of praise, and divine healing of illness. These characteristics express points of ecumenical convergence with the later Pentecostal and charismatic movements that belie bounded theological demarcations. This article rehearses those initial Baptist convictions about being a Spirit-empowered people, identifies the parallels with Pentecostalism, and argues that a retrieval of this history should lay the groundwork for as-yet unrealised ecumenical dialogue.