Editing Baptists (section)

===Anabaptist influence view===
A minority view is that early 17th century Baptists were influenced by (but not directly connected to) continental Anabaptists.<ref name="Priest">{{citation|last=Priest|first=Gerald L|title=Are Baptists Protestants?|publisher=Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary|date=14 October 2010|url=http://www.dbts.edu/pdf/macp/2007/Priest,%20Are%20Baptists%20Protestants.pdf|url-status = bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620124136/http://www.dbts.edu/pdf/macp/2007/Priest,%20Are%20Baptists%20Protestants.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2017}}.</ref> According to this view, the General Baptists shared similarities with Dutch Waterlander Mennonites (one of many Anabaptist groups) including believer's baptism only, [[Freedom of religion|religious liberty]], [[separation of church and state]], and [[Arminianism|Arminian]] views of salvation, predestination and original sin. 

It is certain that the early Baptist church led by Smyth had contacts with the Anabaptists; however it is debated if these influences found their way into the English General Baptists.<ref>{{Cite web|first1=Gordon L.|last1=Belyea|title=Origins of the Particular Baptists |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/origins-of-the-particular-baptists/ |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=The Gospel Coalition |language=en-US |quote=}}</ref> Representatives of this theory include A.C. Underwood and William R. Estep. Gourley writes that among some contemporary Baptist scholars who emphasize the faith of the community over soul liberty, the Anabaptist influence theory is making a comeback.<ref name="Gourley" /> This view was also taught by the Reformed historian [[Philip Schaff]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume I. The History of Creeds. - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.x.vi.html |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=www.ccel.org |quote=The English and American Baptists have inherited some of the principles without the eccentricities and excesses of the Continental Anabaptists and Mennonites.}}</ref>

However, the relations between Baptists and Anabaptists were early strained. In 1624, the five existing Baptist churches of London issued a condemnation of the Anabaptists.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Early English Dissenters in the Light of Recent Research|last=Burrage|first=Champlin|publisher=Cambridge|year=1912|volume=2|location=University Press|pages=222}}</ref> Furthermore, the original group associated with Smyth (popularly believed to be the first Baptists) broke with the Waterlander Mennonite Anabaptists after a brief period of association in the Netherlands.<ref>{{citation|last=Melton|first=JG|contribution=Baptists|title=Encyclopedia of American Religions|year= 1994}}.</ref>