A recent conference at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary featured speakers addressing topics set forth in the article on “The Church” in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Baptist Faith and Message statement. Upon This Rock gathers those presentations and answers such questions as:

• What is the basis for our denominational distinctives?
• Are they merely a collection of “faded traditions” or true doctrinal necessities rooted in the Bible alone?
• Are they theologically rich cornerstones of faith that easily transcend time, culture, and preference?

Contributors include Malcolm B Yarnell III (“Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church: A Theological Exposition of Matthew 16:13-20”), Paige Patterson (“Observing the Two Ordinances of Christ”), Thomas and Joy White (“Church Officers and Gender: Can Women Be Pastors? Or Deacons?”) and Bart Barber (“A Denomination of Churches: Biblical and Useful”) as well as Jason G. Duesing, David Allen, Emir F. Caner, James Leo Garrett, Jr., and Byron McWilliams.