When it comes to baptism and the Lord’s Supper, many Baptists reject the language of sacrament. As a people of the book, the logic goes, Baptists must not let tradition supersede the Bible. So Baptists tend to view baptism and Communion as ordinances and symbols, not sacraments.
But the history of Baptists and the sacraments is complicated. In Amidst Us Our Belovèd Stands, Michael A. G. Haykin argues that earlier Baptists, such as Charles Spurgeon, stood closer to Reformed sacramental thought than most Baptists today do. More than mere memorials, baptism and Communion have spiritual implications that were celebrated by Baptists of the past. Haykin calls for a renewal of sacramental life in churches today—Baptists can and should be sacramental.
136 pages.
Contents:
- Blessed Food
- This Sweet Repast
- The Right Way of Worship
- The Nearest Approach to His Glorious Self
- Six Theses on Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the Baptist Tradition
- Coda
This is a must-read for anyone attempting to understand the Baptist position on the sacraments, credobaptist or not.
—Matthew Y. Emerson, professor of religion and dean of theology, arts, and humanities, Oklahoma Baptist University
Drawing on some of the most popular hymns and most formative theological writing in Particular Baptist history, Michael Haykin’s outstanding new book offers a much-needed recovery of this doctrinal and devotional tradition.
—Crawford Gribben, professor of early modern British history at Queen’s University Belfast; author of John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat.
Amidst Us Our Belovèd Stands: Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition is in the following collections:
