Heritage Column for August 18, 2005
By Fred Anderson
OXFORD, England – At nearly 400 years as a permanent settlement, Virginia has been through many epochs in its growth and development. When Virginia was young, say 100 years old, Baptist non-conformists began to appear on the scene. The English Toleration Act of 1689 allowed some relief and toleration, but it was far from religious liberty. The religious dissenters were brave coming to Virginia, which also had an official church. In time, some Virginia Baptists were persecuted for their faith.
In 1699 the first documented Baptist preaching-by an itinerant preacher in Yorktown-was heard. Some English Baptists must have begun moving into southeastern Virginia in the early 1700s and they communicated with the Kentish Baptist Association to send a minister. The Kentish Baptists chose two men-Robert Norden and Thomas White.
In May 1714 the General Assembly of the General Baptist churches in England “appointed and approved” the two men “to go to Virginia to propogate the Gospell of truth.” They wanted them to “go with all Conveniant Speed.” They were sent as “messengers” but in effect they were “missionaries” and even “church planters.” Virginia was viewed as a mission field.
Thomas White served a church at Bessels Green, Kent, which viewed the experiment as “the great work of gathering and settling churches in gospel order in Virginia.” After some debate over White's possible departure, the church agreed to “spare him for a time” to perform “this good and great work.” White died on the ocean journey, but Norden arrived and gathered Baptists into what traditionally is held to be the first Baptist church in Virginia, Burleigh in the Prince George and Isle of Wight area.
The churches of the General Assembly sent some financial support for the Virginia mission. In his report to the Kentish Baptists, Norden told of “promising prospect to plant the Gospel” and reported that he “in a little time baptized and settled 18 persons in Gospel order.” He described “great meetings” which attracted people from “many miles to hear.” Three more missionaries were sent to Virginia in 1715. On the pages of one early church record book from Kent was a notation beside the names of numerous members: “Gone to America.”
The Kentish Baptists planted a Baptist witness in Virginia more than a century before the creation of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. The information about these pioneers was gleaned from time spent by this columnist in the Angus Library of Regent's Park College in Oxford. It is gratifying that in the great seat of academia there is a Baptist presence, albeit in a small school on a side street.
For some 900 years there has been an academic community at the place where the oxen ford the River Thames. The ancient colleges with their lush green quads, spires and towers and honey-colored stone buildings include Christ College, founded in 1525, which has gained new fame because its ancient dining hall was used in the Harry Potter film. It is only one of the some 29 colleges which comprise the University of Oxford. Regent's Park properly is termed a “permanent private hall” of the University. It lacks the spires and towers but does have the stone and a modest quad lined with roses. In its simplicity it mimics the plain little Baptist churches with which it is forever associated.
The school began in London in 1810 and acquired the name of the famous London park in 1856. In 1927 the Oxford site was purchased and the school relocated yet kept its name. According to a current prospectus, Regent's Park developed “its own particular character and style, which stem from its Christian foundation and its continuing Christian commitment.” The official publication continues: “The training of Baptist ministers is still an important part of the college's life but the college is now thoroughly ecumenical.”
Small by American college standards, Regent's Park enrolls about 100 students and they can participate in the larger academic life of Oxford. Again, from the prospectus it is stated that students can “integrate their intellectual development with a thoughtful Christian faith and develop Christian values for our world today.” Teaching is performed in the English tutorial method, which affords opportunities for one-on-one interplay with professors.
On the day this columnist visited there was a group from Southwestern Seminary, the large SBC seminary in Texas. During the days before and after the BWA Congress in Birmingham, England, there were numerous tour groups making pilgrimages. In the course of any given year, many Baptist ministers from America-including several Virginia Baptists-design a sabbatical at Regent's Park.
It had been some 22 years since my first visit to Regent's Park for a summer study on 17th-century English Baptists. There have been only a few noticeable changes in Oxford. There are some new glass-enclosed shopping malls. The old city market which once had a green grocer, fish monger and butcher has been converted into a trendy shopping area.
But the main attractions are still there: Tom Tower, the meadow, the gentle Thames, the dreaming spires, the great Bodleian Library and the green quads. The little Baptist school remains with its library full of treasures, including documents which date to when Virginia was young.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society.