The Lord’s Supper. Part Three: The Early Church, 4th-5th Century

I previously wrote on the summary of Christian views on the Lord’s Supper dating from the 1st to the 3rd century. I couched this from the outset with the choice offered by the Anglican prelate James Ussher to consider whether the fathers not only taught that bread becomes Christ to us or that we might …

Confirmation: One Lord, One Faith… One Baptism?

In the early centuries of the church, there were several debates surrounding the baptism of heretics and its efficacy. A church council under Cyprian of Carthage on this topic stated in the 3rd century: Primus of Misgirpa said: I decide, that every man who comes to us from heresy must be baptized. For in vain …

Plans to prosper

Off the back of a conversation I had recently I’ve been prompted to explore what a positive vision of what the future could look like in my own context. This is in response to the fact that it was felt that the general diagnosis of the future doesn’t look great from the perspective of an …

Is paedobaptism a prerequisite for Christendom?

Having a minority view on Baptism (That of a mixed approach accepting both paedo and credo approaches, albeit assuming a credo mode as normative) within my tradition means I spend a long time having to justify my position repeatedly to critics. What follows is a reflection on a recent criticism on paedobaptism being a prerequisite …

On Baptism and it’s timing. Part Four: Conclusion

Introduction Having looked at Baptism I am left with a number of impressions. On the one hand we hear everyone who is saved is baptised. On the other hand not everyone who is baptised is saved. What is more is that baptism takes a panoply of forms. It can be in the ark of Noah, …