Scholars often use descriptors such as individualistic and democratic to describe Baptists in early national America. But as Jacob Hicks demonstrates, these terms don't offer much help in understanding how Baptist luminaries including Isaac Backus and John Leland organizationally transformed their movement from a persecuted sect into a respected denomination. Hicks breaks new ground by locating Baptists in the eras vibrant milieu of politicking, publishing, and partisanship." Thomas S. Kidd, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
"Jacob Hickss To Contest the Powers of Darkness maps out how New England Baptists wedded their individualistic instincts to savvy organizational strategies in order to obtain their religious and political goals in the early American republic. Through regional church networks, book and newspaper publications, and partisan activism, leaders like Isaac Backus and John Leland helped establish the once scattered and harassed Baptists on a firm footing in the young nation." Eric C. Smith, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Author of John Leland: A Jeffersonian Baptist in Early America
