Through an examination of the Nonconformist reception of Richard Baxter, this essay provides a window into theological transition within early modern Protestantism. I argue that, although Baxter excelled in knowledge of scholastic theology, integrated scholastic theology into his practical writings, and produced a great scholastic system of theology—the Methodus Theologiae Christianae (1681)—over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scholastic and philosophical aspects within Baxter’s corpus were ignored, downplayed, and even excised by Nonconformists who otherwise strongly sympathized with his writings. The modern focus on Baxter’s practical works and neglect of Baxter’s scholastic theology is due in large part to this later reception. The story of Baxter’s reception is, moreover, illustrative of a general shift in philosophical and theological orientation in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Nonconformity.

通过对理查德·巴克斯特（Richard Baxter）的非墨守成规主义接受度的考察，这篇文章为了解早期现代新教内部的神学转变提供了一个窗口。我认为，尽管巴克斯特在经院神学知识方面表现出色，但将经院神学融入他的实践著作中，并产生了一个伟大的经院神学体系——基督教神学方法论(1681)——在十八和十九世纪的过程中，巴克斯特语料库中的学术和哲学方面被不墨守成规的人忽视、轻描淡写，甚至被删减，否则他们强烈同情他的著作。现代对巴克斯特实际作品的关注和对巴克斯特经院神学的忽视在很大程度上是由于后来的接受。此外，巴克斯特受到欢迎的故事还说明了 17 世纪末和 18 世纪的非从众在哲学和神学方向上的普遍转变。