The 1689 London Baptist Assembly

What is the history and background of the 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith? The Melbourne Reformation Society invited Dr. James Renihan to answer this question. He asserts that “proper understanding of the Confession requires several things of us—familiarity with theological development throughout the preceding centuries, acquaintance with contemporary theological thought (especially in its Reformed variety), and an unwillingness to import twentieth- or twenty-first-century ideas into its words and phrases.” This lecture aims to give us what we need to understand this important, historic confession of faith in context."

James M. Renihan has served as Dean of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies since 1998, and was recently appointed President of IRBS Theological Seminary. He has been a pastor in churches in Massachusetts, New York and California, and currently serves at Christ Reformed Baptist Church, Vista, CA. He is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Ph.D.), Seminary of the East (M.Div.), Trinity Ministerial Academy, and Liberty Baptist College, (B.S.). His academic work has focused on the Second London Baptist Confession and the broader Puritan theological context from which it arose. He has been published in many journals, and is the author of multiple books including Edification and Beauty, A Toolkit for Confessions, True Love, Faith and Life for Baptists and several others. Dr. Renihan and his wife Lynne have five adult children, who all love and serve Christ, and nine grandchildren. Two of his sons are pastors of Reformed Baptist churches. (Bio source: https://founders.org/author/james-m-renihan/)