Baptism has been a contested practice from the very beginning of the church. In this volume, Ben Witherington rethinks the theology of baptism and does so in constant conversation with the classic theological positions and central New Testament texts. By placing baptism in the context of the covenant, Witherington shows how advocates of both believer's baptism and infant baptism have added some water to both their theology and practice of baptism.
Introduction
1 Getting Our Feet Wet
The antecedents of Christian baptism outside the New Testament
2 John’s Baptism--Totally Immersed in His Work
Pre-Christian initiations in the New Testament and pre-sacramental texts
3 Parting the Waters
The beginnings of water baptism as a Christian rite--Acts
4 Trial by Water Ordeal
Paul and burial with Christ
5 Breaking the Waters of Birth
Water baptism in the Johannine literature?
6 Down in the Flood
Baptism in Hebrews and I Peter
7 A Rite of Passage
A theology of water baptism in the New Testament
8 Postscript--Coming Up for Air
Where do we go from here?
Ben Witherington III is Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary. His publications include Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord's Supper (2007), The Living Word of God: Rethinking the Theology of the Bible (2007), What's in the Word: Rethinking the Socio-Rhetorical Character of the New Testament (2009), and The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Wesleyanism, and Pentecostalism, Revised and Expanded Edition (2015).