Baptist Colleges

The roots of Baptism date back to the 16th century. The religion is considered a communion of evangelical Protestants, which is a movement within Christianity. An aspect of the religion is a belief in believer's baptism, in which a person is baptized on the basis of his or her expression of faith. In North America there are estimated to be over 35 million Baptists that are represented by over 50 different groups. In the US surveys have shown that about one out of five Christians consider themselves to be Baptist.

Baptist Higher Education Overview

Baptist higher education in the US dates back to 1764 with the founding of Rhode Island College, which later became Brown University (and no longer has Baptist affiliation). During the 1800s many Baptist colleges and universities were founded in the US, with over 30 of these being in the south and border states. Most were started under the direction of state Baptist organizations and with support from local communities. A motivation was the desire of Baptists for an educated clergy. A few of the institutions from that time include Baylor University, Mercer University, Samford University, and Georgetown College. Today Baptist higher education institutions extend across the US in urban, suburban, and rural settings and include major universities with broad areas of research and studies as well as focused, smaller colleges.