Introduction 5
to the world Church.^6 They have also been criticized from without by, for
example, the Presbyterian J.M. Ross, who notes that baptism does not
occupy a central place in Baptist theology.^7 Unprecedented ecumenical
developments have taken place since the mid-1960s, culminating in the
World Council of Church's 1982 Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry? which
has proved to be a springboard for further studies. And while these studies
have gone on, Baptist writing on baptism has tended to be conducted
within the context of and often been responses to ecumenical issues.^9 In
short, in the last thirty years, Baptists have produced very little specifically
on baptism/Christian initiation, an observation which belies their numeri-
cal strength. It is of particular note, then, that a number of the essays in the
present volume are written by Baptists and deal with baptism within the
Baptist and ecumenical contexts. A number include discussion of and
illustrations taken from Baptist history and thought (Porter, Holmes, Fiddes
and Haymes), while several others give over considerable space to the
Baptist context. This is to be particularly welcomed, given the past reti-
cence of Baptists to write on the various issues involved in baptism/Chris-
tian initiation.^10 To those already discussed, Hazel Sherman applies
elements of the work of E.P. Sanders on Paul and his Jewish background,
particularly the law, faith and works, to the British Baptist situation and
the way in which candidates for baptism are understood to transfer their
allegiance to the lordship of Christ, a transfer which has implications for
- Such critics include, most recently, Cross, Baptism, passim, and Fowler, More
Than a Symbol,passim: Cross writing from within the British context and Fowler from
the North American. - J.M. Ross, 'The Theology of Baptism in Baptist History', BQ 15 (1953), pp.
100-112 (p. 100). - Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (F&O Paper, 111; WCC: Geneva, 1982).
- See Cross, Baptism, pp. 460-61, and 'Baptists and Baptism—A British Perspec-
tive', BHH35 (2000), pp. 104-21 (p. 108); Fowler, More Than a Symbol, pp. 7-8. Cf.
also J.L. Garrett's overview article, 'Baptists concerning Baptism: Review and Pre-
view', SwJT 43 (2001), pp. 52-67, which, though there are a number of significant
omissions, nevertheless indirectly substantiates the point made here: he discusses only
two books published after 1970 (among his omissions are Porter and Cross [eds.],
Baptism [ 1999] and Cross, Baptism [2000]—for other works omitted, see Cross, Bap-
tism, pp. 497-509), though Garrett does note eight systematic theologies which include
some discussion of baptism (p. 64 n. 64). - In this regard, the present volume is very much following the lead of the earlier
Porter and Cross (eds.), Baptism, in which many of the contributors were Baptist, as is
the honoree of the volume, R.E.O. White.