Practicing Baptism
Bard Eirik Hallesby Norheim summarizes what Practicing Baptism means.
It is “about letting oneself to be made a receiver, a beggar over and over again (204).
It is about renunciation, the call to give up our lives to gain them (205).
Baptism is practiced well only if it is practiced as mission: “ Practicing baptism always means being sent. . . . [It] has to be something other than a mere maintenance strategy. When the church practices baptism, the church is sent beyond its borders, as baptism shapes a community without borders. . . . Being baptized in the name of the triune God is the start of a sending to the world - a missio ” (206).
Baptism is “a continuous call to reconciliation” (207), a mission to see justice done and to fight “death, sin, and radical evil” (208).
Practicing baptism is just being a Christian.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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