{"id":4793,"date":"2009-04-24T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2009-04-24T00:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/04\/once-in-a-lifetime-book.html"},"modified":"2009-04-24T00:00:29","modified_gmt":"2009-04-24T00:00:29","slug":"once-in-a-lifetime-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/04\/once-in-a-lifetime-book.html","title":{"rendered":"Once in a Lifetime Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EFH.jpg\"<\/span>Every now and then, but not very often, someone writes a book that is a once-in-a-lifetime publication. Wow! Everett Ferguson has just given us an exhaustive study of baptism in the first five centuries: Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

What are the most decisive arguments in the baptism debates — infant or adult? Submersion, immersion, sprinkling? What most convinced you of your view? Or, do you think the parents or person choose and that the church makes a few options available?<\/b><\/p>\n

This master historian, well-known for his works on backgrounds to the New Testament, sketches the whole picture: from the Jewish and\/or Greco-Roman backgrounds to the New Testament to infant baptism (late 2d century) to baptismal liturgies to baptismal theologies and baptistries themselves — it’s all here.<\/p>\n

This book is not innovative; it is not an attempt to argue a brand-new theory; it’s an examination of what can be known from the ancient evidence about baptism. For years I have always gone to G.R. Beasley-Murray’sjustifiably well-known book on baptism (Baptism in the New Testament<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>). I will now go first to Ferguson’s magnum opus.<\/p>\n

Every pastor, theologian, ecclesial thinker, and theologian needs this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every now and then, but not very often, someone writes a book that is a once-in-a-lifetime publication. Wow! Everett Ferguson has just given us an exhaustive study of baptism in the first five centuries: Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries . What are the most decisive arguments…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nOnce in a Lifetime Book - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/04\/once-in-a-lifetime-book.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Once in a Lifetime Book - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every now and then, but not very often, someone writes a book that is a once-in-a-lifetime publication. 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