Communion & Disunion, by Kevin Bauder: A Review

Bauder, Kevin T. Communion & Disunion: Discussions on Biblical Fellowship and Separation. Central Seminary Press, 2025.

At our annual meeting in June, the president of Central Seminary announced that they were giving away copies of two recently published books by Kevin Bauder. Who doesn’t like free books? Of course I latched on to them right away. One was, Can I Know God’s Will which gives good advice on decision making. The other, Communion & Disunion: Discussions on Biblical Fellowship and Separation is the subject of this review.

The book is a collection of sermon transcripts and essays by Kevin Bauder on the rationale behind Christian fundamentalism. As a collection, there is some repetition which Dr. Bauder notes in his introduction, but says, “I see this repetition more as a strength than as a flaw. Many Christians have never heard a discussion of fellowship and separation. Because the discussion is new, people lack categories for understanding it. A new and complex topic like this demands more than one hearing, so I hope repeating myself will help to clarify and reinforce the main ideas.” (1) I must concur with Dr. Bauder’s observation here. Yes, he does repeat himself, but he also reinforces his subject by this repetition.

As to the content, the book opens with the transcript of a sermon preached at the “Advancing the Church” Conference in Lansdale, Pennsylvania in February 2011. “Secondary Separation in 2 John” is a must read (or must-hear if you can get a copy of the recording). In this sermon you will find many key ideas that are repeated and further developed in the book. Key thoughts: defining “apostate” (12); pointing out the danger of loss if one does not deal with apostates properly (14); [Big Thought] fundamentalists did not invent the fundamentals (15); the notion that if you can’t put apostates out, you have to come out (21). These thoughts and more fill this very fine sermon. As I said, it is a must read.

What follows is a collection of essays first published on the Central Seminary blog, “In the Nick of Time,” or in our own publication, FrontLine magazine. I’ve read most of these before, but going through them again proved their value. “Thinking about the Gospel,” “Institutional Alignments and the Unity of the Spirit,” “How Fundamentalists became Separatists,” “The Importance of Separation,” and “A Three-Dimensional Matrix: Applying Biblical Separation.” These titles, plus one more, “Fundamentalism and Secondary Separation,” a paper presented at the Evangelical Theological Society in November 2011, make up this part of the book. In these essays, the ideas presented in the sermon are fleshed out in more detail.

The last part of the book contains transcripts of the Arthur Walton Lectures, a series of talks given at Dr. Bauder’s alma mater, Faith Baptist Bible College & Seminary. (I don’t have the date when these lectures were given.) The lectures are “The Boundary of Christian Fellowship,” “The Gospel and the Fundamentals,” “The Problem of Indifferentism,” “Levels of Fellowship,” “Principles for Making Choices,” and “Platform Fellowship.” These lectures generally go over similar themes to the previous section, but present additional ideas and usually hold one’s interest throughout. My only complaint here is that the final lecture ends with a cliffhanger, raising the issue of fellowship “between fundamentalists and other evangelicals of a conservative bent.” Alas, the question hangs, and we don’t find it directly addressed in this volume. We can piece together something of an answer from the principles discussed in the book, but that involves independent thinking. I’d like Dr. Bauder to spoon feed it to me.

The book closes with an Appendix, “The Idea of Fundamentalism.” This essay does give some new information, but here is where the repetition gets repetitive! Perhaps a reader might read this chapter first, then go back to the beginning as these ideas will find more extensive treatment throughout. It is a good summary of the whole position.

What can I say in evaluation? As a committed fundamentalist, I agree with the ideas presented. Dr. Bauder has a unique way of expressing them which helped me rethink my own previously held ideas. There might be one or two places where I would say things slightly differently, but the book expresses fundamentalism as I’ve understood it since my earliest introduction to it.

The book is really a philosophical statement rather than a theology or history of fundamentalism. You will find treatments of fundamentalist history elsewhere (see the footnotes in this book). Dr. Bauder notes that no one has yet written a full-scale theology of fundamentalism (188, n. 37), which may be the task of someone else. He lists several resources in the cited note, all of which should be consulted by anyone who undertakes the effort. I would say this collection should be added to the list.

One of the most valuable points made in the book is that the idea of fundamental (essential, core, critical) doctrines is as old as the New Testament. Fundamentalists did not invent the idea of fundamentals. Neither did fundamentalists invent the idea of separation. There is evidence of this in the New Testament, despite the authoritative presence of apostles. However, from the second century Christians were on their own and were faced with making decisions about who to include, who to exclude, and what exclusion looked like. (In other words, if I must distance myself from a professing Christian, is it total exclusion or merely some degree or level of separation?)

Another key idea is presenting the gospel as creating our “fundamental unity and inner fellowship.” (110) This theme occurs throughout the book, but in the second Arthur Walton lecture it is most clearly fleshed out. Understanding what is meant by “the gospel” is key here. The gospel is not merely the minimum doctrines that must be accepted for one to be born again. Rather, the gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ, defined by key events, and rightly explained by the apostles. From these events and explanations flow foundational implications of the gospel, implications that are essential to the gospel itself. That is, the gospel and its implications form the fundamentals that drive “communion and disunion” between Christians.

By the term “gospel,” we often do mean the minimum doctrines leading one to be born again. We are thinking about our basic “soul-winning presentation.” Dr. Bauder shows us that the gospel is much more than these minimum truths. Since we are thinking one thing when Dr. Bauder says gospel, it is easy to misunderstand what he means. However, as I’ve read this book and thought through what is taught, I wonder what other term could replace it? If we say, “the fundamentals,” we run into the challenge, “what are the fundamentals?” The term “gospel” invests the issue with the importance the fundamentals deserve. We aren’t concerned merely about a systematic theology of key points; we are concerned with the stuff that makes up Christian life itself. That is, the gospel.

Anyone who is interested in fundamentalism and how fundamentalists think should read this book. The topics addressed are serious, raising serious questions about how we interrelate with other Christians. At this point in time, we will find we cannot come to full unanimity with every other brother. We will have to decide what to do about that. This book will help.

The last thing I’ll note is that I could wish for chapter numbers and an index. I would find these tools a help, as this is a book for thinking. I’ve made a rudimentary index with my own notes but would like a bit more. Aside from this minor quibble, I heartily endorse the book. Get it. Study it. Use it.

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.