“A Bow Too Great for My Stiff Neck”

Abstract Though John Leland spent his life as a Baptist itinerant, his fierce individualism often placed him at odds with his fellow Baptists. Early American Baptists practiced a church-centered piety, emphasizing the importance of church membership, the Lord’s Supper, and the congregation’s authority over its members through church discipline. Leland demonstrated his ambivalence toward the local church and traditional Baptist piety by, among other things, resisting ordination, settled pastorates, and the Lord’s Supper. This chapter highlights Leland’s explosive Lord’s Supper controversy at Cheshire’s Third Baptist Church, and considers the long-term impact his radical individualism has had on American Baptist faith and practice.