A fellowship of baptism
Subtitle: Karl Barth's ecclesiology in light of his understanding of baptism
By: Tracey Mark Stout
Series: Princeton Theological Monograph series
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Eugene, Or
Language: eng
Number of pages: 199
ISBN-13: 9781606089958
Subjects: History of doctrines; Baptism; Church
Description: This book is a criticial engagement with Karl Barth's ecclesiology, arguing that reading his ecclesiology through the lens of his mature view of baptism best enables one to understand Barth's view of the church.  Barth's insistence on believer's baptism is connected to the free-church ecclesiology he develops in Church Dogmatics.  The church, for Barth, is a gathered, concrete community formed by the Holy Spiri.  The result of believer's baptism should be a community that is free from cultural and political control so that it can serve the world and witness to it.  At the same time, questions are raised about Barth's rejection of the sacramental nature of baptism and the implications this has for ecclessiology.  The strengths of believer's baptism and the weakness of his non-sacramental view are both seen in his writings on the church and are brought into conversation with one another.  Reading Barth's ecclesiology and doctrine of baptism together helps to show the interdependence of baptism and ecclesiology in Barth as well as in all church teaching and practice. - Publisher info.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.189-199).
Table of contents: title: Karl Barth's doctrine of baptism; title: Baptism and the being of the church; title: Baptism as a sacrament; title: Baptism and the gathered community; title: Baptism and the free community; title: Baptism and the witnessing community.