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The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan: The Trinitarian and Cosmic Order of Salvation

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This work takes up an interesting problem that attaches to the study of catechetical and mystagogical materials of the early Christian period: the reception of the New Testament witnesses to baptismal practice in the post-biblical churches. As McDonnell argues, the common witness of Christians, East and West, early and late, was that accounts of Jesus baptism in the Jordan were preferred as the foundational textual witness over the Pauline tradition of being buried and raised with Christ.

After surveying the gospel witness in the first two chapters, he proceeds into the second and third century witnesses to its reception. Not content with the usual suspects in the early catholic pantheon, McDonnell summarizes the contribution of adoptionists, Arians, and various non-canonical texts (The Gospel of the Hebrews, The Gospel of the Ebionites, and the Odes of Solomon). In the end, it seems that the Pauline witness to have been largely suppressed, not receiving any serious treatment in baptismal or catechetical literature until Origen.

In the final section, McDonnell explores the Trinitarian character of the baptism of Jesus with pastoral eye. If Christian baptism is Trinitarian, the sum total of Christian life is Trinitarian. He is especially concerned that this will inform Christian pneumatology in its personal and experimental dimensions (McConnell is himself a Charismatic Roman Catholic).