The Reformed Baptist tradition in America traces its roots to the English Baptists of the 17th Century. The first formative document for these baptists was the
1644 London Baptist Confession. Following this, the English Baptists began to polarize around the issue of election, resulting in the General Baptists and the Particular Baptists. Seeing a need to carefully proscribe the doctrine of election, the Particular Baptists re-wrote the confession, leading to the London Baptist Confession of 1677, which was revised and edited as the
London Baptist Confession of 1689.
The Baptists in America went through some difficult times, historically and theologically. The major Baptist association in America today is the Southern Baptist Convention, which has begun returning to its theological roots of Puritan theology and Calvinism. The Southern Baptist Confession holds to the Baptist Faith and Message, which was written in 1925, and revised in 1963 and again in 2000. The most recent iteration can be read
at the SBC website.
