This blogger wants baptism resources.

The first thing to say is that I’m surprised there are not more of them. Obviously, Peter Leithart’s recent book, The Baptized Body, is must-reading, but I can’t think of many substantial books that I have found that were really that helpful on the subject.

I think that many eons ago, when I was still using my parents address as my own, and they were members of the IVP book club, I read Baptism: It’s Purpose, Practise and Power by Michael Green, which I found on their shelves. It may have been a great book and helped me avoid pitfalls (or get corrupted early 🙂 ). Green is an Evangelical Anglican who, according to my dim memory, took issue with the rite of confirmation in a way that seems quite paedocommunist, but I may be mistaken.

Some studies dealing with Reformation doctrines and exegesis are valuable, but they usually amalgamate baptism with “the sacraments” as some sort of class we are justified in analyzing. A good example of this, that is well worth reading, would be Ronald Wallace’s study, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament. It gives you a great overview of Church, Ministry, the Bible (though Wallace’s Barthianism trips him up a bit here), preaching, the Lord’s Supper, and baptism. But I’m not sure this is the best way to determine what the Bible says about baptism? Is it right to assume, for example, that we can extrapolate the rules of one for the other. (I think it is a ton easier to decide that the Lord’s Supper is invalid when not administered by an ordained minister than it is regarding baptism. Yet it has been common in Reformed circles–with the pleasant exception of Charles Hodge who pointed out that the Westminster Confession does not mandate the position–to claim that lay baptisms are invalid by extrapolating. It simply does not seem like an accurate way to make decisions about what the Bible teaches.

Similarly, Geoffrey Bromiley’s book on the sacramental teaching of the Reformed Churches is good, but treats baptism as an example of a larger phenomenon, “sacraments,” rather than devoting study to baptism in it’s own right (or rite, I guess).

By far, my favorite book devoted to Baptism, thus far, aside from Peter’s work, is Edmund Schlink’s The Doctrine of Baptism. Schlink is Lutheran and (much worse) somewhat higher critical. But he still does some great work especially by beginning with the Great Commission. You would need to read guardedly, but I think his book would richly repay the reader.
Then again, perhaps better than any book would be simply watching and listening:

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