Richard Baxter (1615-1691) was an English Puritan poet and church leader. He was baptized at a very young age and raised in the church. Baxter possessed many controversial beliefs about the church and was a Nonconformist, which caused him to have conflict with his peers and the Anglican Church.

During the 1640s Baxter went through a soteriological transition in which his theology of salvation was entirely inverted. He went into the decade holding a set of doctrines that were not just Calvinist, but Antinomian.

In 1684 during the reign of James II, Baxter's paraphrase was accused of containing scandalous and seditious things against the government and Baxter was charged with eight counts of sedition. Imprisoned on these charges for two years, the King finally intervened, personally, and Baxter was released.

He was greatly influenced by the Amyraldians and incorporated much of their thinking, including hypothetical universalism, which teaches that Christ hypothetically died for all men, but His death only has real benefit to those who believe.