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Calvin' Baptismal Theology and the Making of the Strasbourg and Genevan Baptismal Liturgies 1540 and 1542
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2009
Extract
Baptism is a subject which finds considerable attention in the writings of John Calvin. It features more generally in chapter 14 of the 1559 Institute, on Sacraments, and specifically in chapters 15 and 16. It features in the Instruction in Faith and the later Genevan Catechism, and throughout his commentaries both with reference to passages where baptism is explicit, as well as where Calvin believed it to be implicit. Other references occur in sermons and his occasional writings. Yet in contrast with his eucharistic teaching, there have been far fewer studies on his theology of baptism. Amongst the contributions of English speaking scholars, the studies of R. S. Wallace, Calvin's Doctrine of the Word and Sacraments, 1953 and T. F. Torrance's discussion in the 1957 Church of Scotland report on baptism remain invaluable. Both Wallace and Torrance present a systematic survey of the Reformer's baptismal theology as it is found in the 1559 Institute, the commentaries and sermons, pinpointing his important emphases. In an article in 1962 E. Grislis gave a comprehensive summary of the teaching on baptism in the 1559 Institute, drawing attention to a tension between election and instrumentality. More recently still Jill Rait examined the teaching on infant baptism in the 1559 Institute, suggesting that it needs to be understood in the light of three inter-related principles, viz:
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References
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28 Ibid.
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31 Ibid., p. 153.
32 Ibid., p. 162.
33 I have used Baum's edition.
34 The 1540 edition has not survived. It is known through a 1542 edition.
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