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Review Summary: Excellent overview of baptism |
Date: 2007-02-26 |
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Details: This is a fantastic summary of four Protestant understandings of baptism: from the Baptist, Reformed, Lutheran, and Church of Christ perspectives. Each of the authors does a marvelous job of stating his case briefly and succinctly (all chapters are under 20 pages) and yet thoroughly -- I felt as though I grasped the core teachings of each perspective after I finished. The editor (John Armstrong) also offers a helpful introduction and conclusion, which point out some of the universally-held points of agreement among all the contributors, as well as the key issues on which they differ.
I fall within the Reformed perspective, and I was impressed by how the Reformed writer not only included several classic terms from Reformed theology (e.g., "covenant", "sign and seal", "means of grace") but also defined these terms and showed how they emerge from the Bible and not just from the Reformed Confessions. Other reviewers will have to assess whether they think the other 3 perspectives were as well-represented, but I thought all the chapters were very well-written. (Perhaps a few additional comments could have helped in a few areas. For example, neither of the two proponents of Infant Baptism addressed very strongly how the biblical data is somewhat inconclusive: just as there is no explicit command to baptize infants, neither is there an explicit command forbidding it; and just as there is no clear-cut example of an infant being baptized in Scripture, neither is there any example of an infant being presented for baptism by his or her parents, and being denied. But this is a small point.)
The respect that each of the authors has for each other is also evident: Several times they list points of agreement with the other positions which sound like they spring from genuine appreciation, and not from a patronizing attempt to avoid sounding too critical. Also, the editor readily admits in the opening introduction that there is no single position on baptism which is the definitive "Christian" or "biblical" view.
Other than the brevity of the chapters and the possibility of a few additional comments that would have solidified the authors' positions, the only other thing (that I can think of) that would have strenghtened this book would have been to include a Roman Catholic viewpoint: I'd be especially interested to hear how a Roman Catholic might respond to and critique the four views that are contained.
But this is a minor quibble. Overall, this book gives a wonderful presentation of four major views on baptism. The reader will come away with a well-balanced understanding of the main strengths and weaknesses of each position. And as an added bonus, the back of the book contains a series of appendices which include a concordance of all the occurences of the word "baptize" (and its derivatives) in the Bible, and a series of quotations from creeds, catechisms, and well-respected theologians that offer additional examples of the differing views on baptism. This book will be a welcome addition to the library of anyone wanting a broader understanding of baptism, as it is viewed by differing Christian traditions.
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out of 6 Reviews
