Customer Reviews

Baptism in the Theology of Martin Luther (Studies in the History of Christian Thought)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

(Review based on Paperback edition, 2001, Brill Academic Publishers, Boston, Leiden)
With baptism and our faith we are always in motion and at the beginning! Ph. 3:13; Rev. 22:11; 1 Cor. 10:12; Ecclus. 18:7; 1 Cor. 8:2.

Briggs, an Anglican priest, mines Luther across his years as he comes to grips with the gospel and its rich, multi-faceted interconnected majesty. He senses well the potential minefields if one tries and corner or simplify Luther (or Scripture for that matter).

Especially does this book reveal the "present tense" of baptism as Luther came to see it, and the unyielding hold Luther had on God's chosen locatedness in the means of grace, never allowing the Word and water to be separated. Nor would he allow the church's boundaries to be firmly etched based on baptism nor to make visible the inner circle of those who return again and again to their "trysting point" in baptism, as this Englishman likes to speak of it.

This work is rich and thorough. One to read and re-read. Before I comment more on this wonderful discovery of a read, I shall do the same.

One will come away from this with a greater appreciation of the depth and conscience boundness of the Great Reformer to Scripture. Well worth the price and investment of time.

This is no boring, run-of-the-mill theology book, it is an eye-opening look at what makes Christianity such a beautiful religion. A religion of peace and comfort that has affected millions of lives over the centuries. Luther's life was so amazingly simple and yet his thoughts so complex! His theology was for the layman and not for the theologian. Easy-to-understand with practical applications, this book is a must-read for anyone who loves the Christian faith.