This Day in Baptist History, a Review

reviewed by T. C. Pinckney                                                                       Vol. XX, No. 8, October 2007

Never before have I written a review of a book I had not yet finished reading, but this time Christmas is coming, and This Day in Baptist History is such an excellent choice for a Christmas present that I had to publish its review while you still have time to order it.

As a block on the cover says, This Day is comprised of “366 daily devotions drawn from the Baptist heritage.” Each daily reading is just slightly more than one page long, so it takes only a little while to read. (And if you get behind, it’s easy to read two or three a day to catch up.)

Each daily segment tells about one or more Baptists who stood for the true faith in some significant way. And each account includes a reference to something important that happened to that person on that date. For example: John Pickett was a Baptist pastor in Fauquier County, Virginia. He was arrested and jailed for three months for preaching Baptist doctrine. That incarceration began on 26 February 1770, and in This Day the devotion for 26 February is about John Pickett.

The dates may be a trial date, birth date, wedding day, day the person came to the Lord, date he died, or any of many other events.

Some of the individuals portrayed are well known, and you have probably heard of them before: Isaac Backus, William Carey, and John Dagg are examples. But most of the devotions tell of wonderful witnesses of whom you and I have never heard.

Here is the information you need to identify the book: E. Wayne Thompson and Davod L. Cummins, This Day in Baptist History (Bob Jones University Press, Greenville, SC, 1993, 550 pp. ISBN 0-89084-709-6.)