Thanks to Andy Goodliff for drawing my attention to a review by John Briggs of the Baptist Hermeneutics volume.

Andy writes:

John Briggs has reviewed The 'Plainly Revealed' Word of God? Baptist Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice edited by Helen Dare and Simon Woodman in the Journal for Theological Studies (April 2012). He ends his review by saying

'But lest it be thought that the essays here presented represent just a celebration of distinctively Baptist perspectives, John Colwell emphasizes the purpose of the exercise must be ‘with the goal of enriching the whole rather than further entrenching the past’, that is, the search is to make a contribution to the catholic rather than to defend a particular confession. At the end of the day fine words are not enough and so one of the external observers questions whether there is a mismatch between Baptist ideals and much Baptist practice, noting that ‘the disjunction between the radical ideals of the Baptist churches and their concrete realisation on the ground’ lead him to conclude that Baptists are too often ‘a people of unfulfilled promise’, a criticism which he turns into a challenge that Baptists serious about their identity should read this book and act upon it.'