‘The Honour of the Spirit's Work’ Andrew Fuller, Dan Taylor, and an Eighteenth-Century Baptist Debate over Regeneration

Abstract

The debate between Andrew Fuller and Dan Taylor, which involved seven distinct publications between 1785 and 1801, was centred on a key issue of the revivals of the eighteenth century: what was the extent to which sinful men and women needed the Holy Spirit to respond to the gospel invitation to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? It is interesting that Fuller, whose thought was a key theological impulse behind the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, was prepared to learn from Taylor's critique of his thinking. And in a day when theological debates often became acrimonious, it is noteworthy that this debate between these two Baptists was marked by civility, mutual love, and respect.