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IBTS

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Senior Research Fellow

Dr Brian Talbot

Dr Brian Talbot is the Minister of Broughty Ferry Baptist Church in Dundee, Scotland. In addition to his role at IBTS, Dr Talbot also serves as Tutor and Examiner for the Greenwich School of Theology (UK) in partnership with North-West University South Africa.

"My research interests would be focused on modern church history. They have included a range of comparative studies in themes in Baptist history in the English-speaking world from the seventeenth century to the present day; to overseas missionary work engaged in by Baptists from the United Kingdom over the last two centuries. I have also produced studies of individual Baptists in the United Kingdom for the British Particular Baptist series, with a particular focus on the witness of Baptists in Scotland. My most recent major volume was the 150th anniversary history of the Baptist Union of Scotland 1869-2019 published in 2021."

Memberships and Networks:

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
International Conference on Baptist Studies (Continuation Committee member)
Monographs in Baptist History (Editorial Board)
Pickwick Publications, Wipf & Stock (Editorial Board)
American Baptist Historical Society
Baptist Historical Society (UK)
Baptist History and Heritage (USA)
Congregational History Society
Ecclesiastical History Society
Scottish Church History Society
Scottish Evangelical Theological Society
Strict Baptist Historical Society
United Reformed Church History Society

Publications

The Search for a Common Identity: The Origins of the Baptist Union of Scotland,

1800-1870 Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2003

 

A Brief History of Central Baptist Association, 1909-2002 Glasgow: Baptist Union of Scotland, 2005

 

Standing on the Rock: A History of Stirling Baptist Church, 1805-2005 Stirling: Stirling Baptist Church, 2005

 

A Man sent from God The Life and Ministry of  John T. Hamilton 1916-1999 Centre for

Baptist History and Heritage, Volume 7; Oxford: Regent’s Park College, 2011

 

Edited and wrote two chapters in A Distinctive People: Aspects of the Witness of Baptists in Scotland in the Twentieth Century Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2014.

 

The ‘Fellowship of Trial’: Religious Rhetoric in World War One: The Sermons and

Poetry of Revd Walter Mursell Helensburgh: United Board History Project, 2017

 

Building on a Common Foundation: The Growth and Development of the Baptist Union of Scotland 1870-2000 2019 (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2021

Book Chapters

‘The Scotch Baptists in Scotland and Wales, 1765-1842', in R. Pope (ed.), Religion and National Identity: Wales and Scotland c.1700-2000, Cardiff; University of Wales Press, 2001.

 

‘Baptists and the Scottish Commission of Enquiry on Religion, 1836-1838', Baptist Quarterly, 39.8, October 2002.

 

‘John Saffery 1763-1825', in M.A.G. Haykin (ed.), The British Particular Baptists 1638-1910, Vol.3, Springfield, Missouri: Particular Baptist Press, 2003.

 

‘“A Sharp Shrewd Scotchman”: David McLaren (1785-1850)’, Baptist Quarterly, 41.2, April 2005.

 

‘Forgotten in the Glory of God’: The Vision of George Barclay 1774-1838, Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, 23.1 (Spring 2005).

 

‘Fellowship in the Gospel’ a brief survey of Baptist relationships, in Baptist History and Heritage (U.S.A.), 40.1, Winter 2005.

 

‘Catching the Infection of his zeal’: Francis Johnston and the mid- Nineteenth Century Scottish Evangelical debate on the work of the Holy Spirit’, Pacific Journal of Baptist Research, April 2006.

 

‘United in Christ?’ Scottish Baptists and their Relationships with other Christian Churches, 1900-1945, American Baptist Quarterly, XXV.1, Spring 2006.

 

9. ‘George Barclay (1774-1838), the founder-pastor’, in R. & D. Polland (eds) The History of Irvine Baptist Church, Irvine: Irvine Baptist Church, 2006.

 

Fellowship in the Gospel: Scottish Baptists and their Relationships with other Christian Churches, Evangelical Quarterly Vol.78, No.4, October 2006.

 

‘Unity and Diversity? Success and Failure amongst Baptists in Scotland prior to 1870’, Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, Vol.25, No.2, Autumn 2007.

 

'The Fields are White unto Harvest but the Labourers are Few’: Baptists and Home Mission in the Nineteenth Century, primarily in the USA and the British Empire’, in A.R. Cross & I.M. Randall (eds), Baptists and Mission, Proceedings of ICOBS IV conference, Paternoster Press, 2008.

 

'Writing the History of a Scottish Baptist Church, illustrated by the bicentenary history of

Stirling Baptist Church’, Scottish Archives, 14 (2008) The Journal of the Scottish Records Association

 

‘Competing Voices: Three Contrasting Approaches to the Development of a Distinctive Evangelical Identity amongst Baptists in Nineteenth Century Scotland’, a chapter in M. Smith (ed.), British Evangelical Identities, Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2008.     

 

‘Preserved from Erroneous Views?’ The Contribution of Francis Johnston as a Baptist voice in the Scottish Evangelical debate, in the mid-Nineteenth Century, on the work of the Holy Spirit’, in D.W. Roberts (ed.), Revival, Renewal and the Holy Spirit, Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2009

 

‘William Quarrier: Philanthropist and Social Reformer’, Records of the Scottish Church History Society, Vol. XXXIX, 2009.  

 

'Baptists and other Christian Churches’, Perichoresis, 7.2 (2009). This is the theological journal of Emmanuel University of Oradea, Romania.

 

'“Rousing the Attention of Christians”: Scottish Baptists and the Baptist Missionary Society prior to the Twentieth Century’, a chapter in J.H.Y. Briggs & A.R. Cross (eds), Baptists and the World: Renewing the Vision, papers from the Baptist Historical Society Conference, IBTS, Prague, 16-19 July 2008, (Oxford: Centre for Baptist history and Heritage, 2011).

 

'The King James Bible: A Reflection on 400 Years of its history’, Evangelical Review of Theology, October 2011.

 

'Baptists and other Christian Churches in the first half of the twentieth century’, in D.W. Bebbington & A.R. Cross (eds), Interfaces (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2013), the proceedings of the ICOBS V ‘Baptists and Others’ conference Melbourne, Australia.

 

'The King James Bible and Baptists over 400 years’, American Baptist Quarterly, Vol. XXX No’s 1-2 (Spring-Summer 2011) – published March 2013. 

 

'Confronting the Powers: Baptists in Scotland and the Commonwealth Government’, a chapter in Anthony R. Cross and John H.Y. Briggs (eds), Freedom and the Powers: Perspectives from Baptist History marking the 400th Anniversary of Thomas Helwys' The Mystery of Iniquity (Didcot: The Baptist Historical Society, 2014)

 

'Scottish Baptists and the First World War’, in Larry Kreitzer (ed.), Baptists and World War One (Oxford: Regent’s Park College, 2014).

 

'Scottish Christian Commitment to the Great Commission: with a particular focus on Scottish Baptist missions in the early twentieth century’ Baptistic Theologies, 6.2 (2014), the proceedings of the Convictional Theologies Conference, International Baptist Theological Seminary, Amsterdam.

 

‘‘Seeing through a glass darkly’: Contrasting Interpretations of Scottish Baptist Identity in Nineteenth-Century Scotland’ in D. Weaver (ed.), “Mirrors and Microscopes: Historical Perceptions of Baptists.” (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2015).

 

‘Spreading the good news from Scotland: Scottish Baptists and Overseas Mission in the first three decades of the twentieth century’, a chapter in I.M. Randall, Peter Morden & Anthony R. Cross (eds), Pathways and Patterns in History: Essays to honour David Bebbington, Didcot: Baptist Historical Society & Spurgeon’s College, July 2015.

 

The King James Bible and Baptists over 400 years’, in Eron Henry (ed.), Baptist Faith

and Witness Book 5: Paper of the Commission on Mission, Evangelism and Theological Reflection of the Baptist World Alliance 2010 to 2015 (2016)

 

“A larger outpouring of the Spirit of God”: British Baptists and the “1859 Revival”, with a particular focus on Scotland’ in W. Pitts (ed.), Baptists and Revival (Mercer University Press 2018)

 

‘Andrew Gifford (1700-1784)’ a chapter in Michael A.G. Haykin & Terry Wolever (eds), British Particular Baptists 1638-1910 Volume 4, 2018.

 

'The Struggle for spiritual values': Scottish Baptists and the Second World War, article for Perichoresis 16.4 (Winter 2018), pp. 73-94; The Theological Studies Journal of Emmanuel University, Romania, December 2018.

 

‘George Barclay (1774-1838)’ a chapter in Michael A.G. Haykin & Terry Wolever (eds), British Particular Baptists 1638-1910 Volume 5, due out February 2020.

 

‘Archibald McLean (1733-1812)’ a chapter in Michael A.G. Haykin & Terry Wolever (eds), British Particular Baptists 1638-1910 Volume 5, due out February 2020.

 

Can Baptists be identified in the Twenty-first Century?’ in Joseph Early (ed.)  A Festschrift In Honor Of  Karen O’Dell  Bullock Baptist History and Heritage Vol. LV No.1 (Spring 2020).

 

Brian R. Talbot, ‘Scottish Baptists and Temperance, 1829-1929’, in William L. Pitts Jr, (ed.), Baptists, Gospel, and Culture: Papers from the Eighth International Conference on Baptist Studies (2021)  

 

‘Brian R. Talbot, ‘“Ideal Manhood”: The Early Twentieth-Century Perspective of Walter Mursell of Paisley, Scotland’ in Melody Maxwell & Laine Scales (ed.) Baptists and Gender (Mercer University Press forthcoming in 2023)