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As the Church continues to try to clarify the meaning of baptism, well-known liturgical scholar Kenneth Stevenson provides important insights into the historical issues with which we still wrestle. Is baptism a private or a public act? Is the symbolism of the rite still appropriate? Does the language of the baptismal service remain meaningful in a secular age?
In order to answer these and other pressing questions, we must understand the thinking of those who have come before us. Stevenson does just that by looking at the writings of the 17th century Anglican divines such as Lancelot Andrewes, George Herbert, Richard Hooker, Richard Baxter, Jeremy Taylor and others, all of whom have a vital and prophetic significance for our understanding and practice of baptism today.
"Stevenson reminds the Church of today of the wisdom to be found in its own tradition. He lifts up not only the teachings of well-known figures of Christian Initiation but also the insights of now almost-forgotten teachers of the faith. With moving personal insights from his own life and ministry, Stevenson conveys the sense of baptism as a sign of faith that unites God's people across all barriers of time and place."
-- Louis Weil, James F. Hodges Professor of Liturgics, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA
"...tie[s] together the lives and thinking of those in the past with the life and thinking of a present-day counterpart. "It is easy to see golden ages in the past and to approach the past with our own particular agendas," writes the bishop. I am happy to report that he avoids doing either of these."
-- The Rev. Richard J. Anderson for The Living Church
"Kenneth Stevenson is the best sort of Anglican scholar, and this book is the best sort of Anglican scholarship. Stevenson is thoughtful, accessible, and challenging in his research and writing...This book will serve not only as a standard text for the study of baptism: it will serve as an excellent introduction to the life and thought of seventeenth-century Anglicanism."
--Peter Eaton, St. James Rectory, as printed in Anglican Theological Review
"...provides important insights into the historical issues with which we still wrestle. Is baptism a private or a public act? Is the symbolism of the rite still appropriate? Does the language of the baptismal service remain meaningful in a secular age? In order to answer these and other pressing questions, we must understand the thinking of those who have come before us...Stevenson does just that by looking at the writings of the 17th Century Anglican divines...all of whom have a vital and prophetic significance for our understanding and practice of Anglican baptism today."
--James A. Cox, The Midwest Book Review