THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH REGARDING BAPTISM
SCM Press, 1963. Paperback. 6th impression. Translation of Barth's May 7, 1943 lecture in Bern, 'Die Kierchliche Lehre von der Taufe.' 64pp. 16mo, sewn binding in printed wraps. Some foxing to wrappers, clean and sound otherwise. An early statement of Barth's position on Baptism--against paedobaptism but affiming its efficacy. 'This much is clear from Jüngel's explication: in this essay, Barth takes an approach similar to Schleiermacher's with reference to the inherent tension in Calvin's legacy on the doctrine of baptism. Barth wants to maintain that baptism is an instrument of Christ and the Holy Spirit employed for the strengthening of our faith, which Barth casts as 'cognitive' here in a way that is perhaps more reductive than Calvin would have liked. Like Schleiermacher, Barth maintains that faith is necessary for baptism to be effective even if it is valid when faith is absent, although Barth jumbles the terminology a bit because he ties baptism's objective aspect, the question of efface, to the operation of Christ and the Holy Spirit rather than to the confluence of ritual and faith: 'Baptism without the willingness and readiness of the baptized is true, effectual and effective baptism, but it is not correct; it is not done in obedience, it is not administered according to proper order, and therefore it is necessarily clouded baptism.' Thus while infant baptism is valid, or complete in a formal or objective sense, it is improper insofar as it is deficient in the subjective sense of being irresponsible—this 'willingness' and 'readiness' is not present in the baptizand.' (W. Travis McMacken in *The Sign of the Gospel*.). VERY GOOD. Item #510942
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