A Distinguished Blessing of Grace: Abraham Booth’s Doctrine of Sanctification in Confessional Context

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the life and thought of the eighteenth-century Particular Baptist pastor-theologian Abraham Booth (1734–1806) and offers the first dedicated study of Booth’s doctrine of sanctification and its undergirding confessional context. It argues that Booth seems to have consciously followed the English Reformed tradition in four critical areas related to sanctification: (1) his understanding of the necessity and ground of sanctification; (2) his understanding of the nature and process of sanctification; (3) his understanding of the moral law’s instrumental role in sanctification; and (4) his emphasis on the necessity of good works as the external fruit or evidence of sanctification. In each of these areas, Booth’s arguments were characterized by intentional unoriginality. Nevertheless, his writings on sanctification were characterized by careful biblical exegesis and intensive theological inquiry, and they made a meaningful contribution to the Particular Baptist response to Antinomianism.

The dissertation begins with a general introduction that includes an overview and structure of the thesis outlined. Chapter 2 then offers a brief introduction to Booth’s life thought and his significance in church history. Chapter 3 turns to a key area of historical-theological background, namely, the rise and development of doctrinal Antinomianism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Chapter 4 provides a broad survey of how the English Reformed tradition formulated its doctrine of sanctification in response to the challenges of Antinomianism.

Chapters 5–8 are arranged systematically, and they cover each area of Booth’s doctrine of sanctification outlined in the thesis. These chapters give detailed attention to the development of Booth’s thought over time and to areas of continuity and discontinuity between himself and the confessional tradition outlined in chapter 4. A concluding chapter will consider the ongoing legacy of Booth’s theological contribution and offer some suggestions for further research. Ultimately, the aim of this dissertation is to contribute to a deeper understanding of Abraham Booth’s life and thought in its historical context and shed light on his importance as one of the most prolific theologians of the Particular Baptist tradition. Likewise, it seeks to contribute to a growing scholarly interest in the doctrine of sanctification as it developed within the Reformed tradition and especially in Particular Baptist thought.