Proclaimer Blog
Q&A to end Cornhill
This week is the last week of the Cornhill term before Christmas. This afternoon that means that four members of staff are going to form a panel and answer some submitted questions. One, unsurprisingly, is about baptism. Amongst the staff we have persuaded paedo-baptists and persuaded credo-baptists (I count myself amongst the latter). Fortunately for me, the question is framed in such a way that I can answer it "I don't." I'm guessing that won't be enough of an answer though!
It's a complex subject wrapped up in how we understand covenant (and, in particular, the Abrahamic Covenant). No time for that here, right now. But it's worth pointing towards two excellent resources for those who are unclear or undecided about this issue. So, here are two excellent books, one from each camp. I think it's worth reading the argument of the two views from inside the camp, rather than a caricature presented by those who disagree with the position.
- For paedo-baptism, I found The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism edited by Gregg Strawbridge and published by P&R to be thorough and well argued. It includes contributions from Joel Beeke, Richard Pratt and RC Sproul.
- For credo-baptism, the best resource I have read is Believer's Baptism edited by Tom Schreiner and Shawn Wright with contributions from Mark Dever, Andreas Kostenberger and Timothy George. It is published by Broadman and Holman.
It should go without saying that sitting on the fence on such a key ecclesiological issue (though certainly not primary, I would suggest) is a poor place for a church leader to be.
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