BOOK REVIEW: Understanding Four Views on Baptism

BASIC INFO

Title: Understanding Four Views on Baptism
Editor: John Armstrong
Publisher: Zondervan
Year: 2007
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 224
Binding: Glued
Reading level: 2.5
ISBN-10: 0310262674
ISBN-13: 9780310262671
Price USD: $14.99 list price.

REVIEW: This work is one of the newest contributions to Zondervan's Counterpoint series. In the review that follows I will discuss the contributions made by each of the book's four primary authors.

The Baptist Paper (Thomas Nettles) - Nettles does an excellent job summarizing the key scriptural passages and his paper serves as a virtual walk-through of the relevant texts of the New Testament. It is a solid, conservative exposition. Typical of many Baptist writers, Nettle fails to interact with post-Apostolic tradition. While church history and tradition do not carry the weight of Scripture, these are voices that should not be ignored.

The Reformed Paper (Richard Pratt) - Pratt’s paper is perhaps the best written of the entire work. He seamlessly moves between scripture and the Reformed confessional documents, and his paper is marked both by penetrating intellect and pastoral sensitivity. While Pratt’s heavy appeal to the Reformed creeds is in and of itself a good thing, those from the anti-creedal tradition will have difficulty accepting such sources (as evidenced by the reactions from both Nettles and Castelein). To a large degree, this reaction is unfair since Pratt was asked to offer the Reformed position on Baptism; a position which is firmly established in the cited confessions. However, if Pratt truly wishes to dialogue effectively with the anti-creedals he would do well to rely less on the creeds and confessions of his movement.

The Lutheran Paper (Robert Kolb) – Kolb’s article is a solid defense of the Lutheran position. Mid-way through his paper he offers a deeply moving metaphor of the birth of an infant to describe salvation by faith alone. He writes:

“Although babies cry and wiggle as they come from the womb, there is nothing more passive—more a gift—in life than being born. We neither asked our parents for the gift of life nor were asked by them if they could conceive and bear us. Mothers give birth, children receive. This new identity involves trusting and loving the heavenly Parent who imparts new life. But he has made the first move, and he makes it independent of every condition on the human side of the relationship. The response of trust or faith results from, is not a cause of, God’s re-creative act (p 99).

One weakness of his paper is his dismissal of non-sacramental positions as Neoplatonistic (p 94), which betrays a superficial understanding of those positions and smacks of philosophical mud-slinging. More serious engagement with non-sacramental positions would make his contribution stronger. Perhaps another weakness is his apparent difficulty in articulating the difference between the Lutheran and Catholic conceptions of faith. Though Lutheran scholars insist on such a distinction, their highly mystic language only leads to confusion.

The Restorationist Paper (John Castelein) – This paper articulates the position of those who maintain that salvation occurs at the moment of adult, immersed Baptism. Castelein spends much of his article defending against the charge of works-righteousness. Clearly, Castelein wishes to faithfully align himself with the Protestant insistence of sola fide. However, by tying salvation to a physical act, it is highly difficult to engender credulity for his position. Catselein’s paper is written in a humble spirit, and is important for a better understanding of this segment of Christendom.

Other Features - The book includes three very helpful appendixes. The first is a listing of all scriptural passages containing the word baptism (as well as its variants). The next two appendixes list select quotations from church history figures on the subject of baptism as well as relevant passages from a variety of church creeds and confessions.

Physical Copy: Size: 5.4 wide x 8 high x 0.6 deep in. | 137 wide x 203 high x deep 15 mm. Weight: 0.53 lb | 240 gms