The Mystery of Baptism in the Anglican Tradition

The primal place of Christian belonging is at the font, yet what happens there - the words that are spoken and the symoblic actions that take place there - is understood in different ways. In a society that has become so secularised and distanced from its Christian roots, are the language and symbolism of the baptism rite sill meaningful and appropriate? As the church responds afresh to this question today, Kenneth Stevenson revisits a period in Anglican history that is rich in debate and controversy regarding the liturgy of baptism and in the writings of Richard Hooker, Lancelot Andrewes, George Herbert, Richard Baxter and other sixteenth and seventeenth-century divines, discovers practical and theological insights which have a direct bearing on many of the contemporary issues facing the Church today.