""A church free from state control and a state free from church control""--Such is one of the radical insights of a baptist vision of church and society. -- What exactly is a baptist vision of the church? -- What are the biblical, historical and theological roots of this approach to Christian community? -- What is the place of such a vision in the context of a global church that includes alternative notions of the body of Christ? Free Church, Free State is a textbook on baptist ways of being church and a proposal for the future of baptist churches in an ecumenical context. Nigel Wright argues that both baptist (small 'b') and catholic (small 'c') church traditions should seek to enrich and support each other as valid expressions of the body of Christ without sacrificing what they hold dear. Written for pastors, church planters, evangelists and preachers, Nigel Wright offers frameworks of thought for baptists and non-baptists in their journey together following Christ.