3This premium edition of J. M. Carroll's excellent history of the Baptist church and movement contains the large chart which illustrates events over the centuries, which is referred to throughout the text.

First released in 1931, Carroll's superb church history attracted great praise for successfully summarizing all major events and turning points in the history of Baptism. The author sets out his work chronologically, from the time Jesus Christ lived and died upon the cross in 25 - 35 A.D., to the initial manifestations of organised Christianity, its growth during the Dark Ages, the Reformation, and finally the 19th and 20th centuries.

Named "The trail of blood," for the amount of hatred and persecution Baptists had endured over the ages, this book sets out to demonstrate how Baptism grew from a small niche of believers into an accepted movement firmly in the mainstream of Christian faith. Carroll identifies and explains a number of violent persecutions by the Roman Catholic Church, which disagreed broadly with the Baptist doctrine.

The book itself is organised as a series of four lectures, adapted from speeches James Milton Carroll delivered in his role as a preacher and educator in the southern United States. Popular for their clarity, and novelty compared against traditional subjects, it was thus that Carroll had the idea to expand and publish his history in written form.

As an introduction to Baptism, this book is a good choice: it is accessible, vivid, lively and without the dryness common to longer, more ponderous texts. The reader will emerge enlightened as to the major events in the establishment and growth of the Baptist tradition, and may harbor curiosity to explore certain incidents in greater detail.

Cover by Waiting For The Word.