A CHRISTIAN’S POCKET GUIDE TO BAPTISM
The water that unites
By Robert Letham. Christian Focus. 120 pages. £4.99
ISBN 978 1 845 509 682
This is a helpful introduction to some of the questions surrounding an oft-debated issue, written by a gracious and wise Christian. Does it achieve what it says on the tin? Yes and no.
Pocket? Yes — it is small, readable and manageable. Guide to? Yes, in parts — it clearly and concisely explains the continuity in covenantal structures across Scripture. Yet, at other points, it is a more complex read than one might expect of such a series. Of course, carefully nuanced issues shouldn't be ‘dumbed down’ and simplified more than Scripture warrants. But it seemed that extensive quotations from confessional documents, for example, didn't serve to clarify, but raise further questions. One quote from John Knox (on p.76 and repeated on p.102) was more than a little bewildering.
