of doctrines and practices than the more traditional, and I think highly reductive, methodological axioms of biblicism or non-violence. The ethical undissmissablity of non-violence will not be challenged here; however, it has become clear that this ethic alone is inadequate for developing a positive account of the life of Christian communities. The fruitfulness of the memory inherited in the full range of practices that make up Anabaptist life must be re-investigated to resource Christian faithfulness in our emerging post-Christendom context. Furthermore, since a broad group of Christians share the practice of believers’ baptism with Anabaptists, I intend this work to participate in conversations ranging across traditional lines of division because such networks are increasingly needed to sustain the performance of the Christian life.
The current disinclination of younger people toward denominational loyalty and the ongoing decline of previously dominant denominations make the future shape of the church in North America difficult to discern. However, cross-pollination between traditions and an ongoing transience among members likely means that old boundaries between communities will become fuzzier. As the rigidity and independence of traditional theological streams fragments, an opportunity will exist for Anabaptist theology to have a significant voice in describing how local church communities can maintain integrity in a disestablished context. In this spirit, this project hopes to bend itself toward anticipating the needs of Anabaptist-like communities that are at the forefront of a re-formation of the Christian tradition. In addition, I hope that this book will contribute to a growing body of scholarship related to Christian liturgy and practices not confined to communities that practice believers’ baptism. Specifically, I hope to further the possibility of a form of ecumenical engagement that moves beyond, while not dismissing, the traditional contentious, polemical debates. Finally, my hope is that this work of Anabaptist theology will contribute to a renewed practice of believers’ baptism and a greater understanding of the significance of related practices. In such a spirit this project inquires after the apostle Paul’s unitary vision, in which baptism plays a crucial role: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”35
1. Luther, Babylonian Captivity.
2. Cullman, Baptism in the New Testament; Barth, Regarding Baptism.
3. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, 6.
4. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, 6.
5. Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, 69.
6. Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.q1.a8 (5). Numbers in parentheses refer to the page number(s) of the ET.
7. On this point George Lindbeck’s work is especially helpful. See especially “Ecumenism and the Future of Belief.”
8. Here I am thinking of both official acts of reconciliation and ongoing unofficial dialogues between various Anabaptist groups and the Roman Catholic, Swiss Reformed, and Lutheran churches. For one concrete example see G. Schlabach, ed., On Baptism. Also see Enns, “Believers Church Ecclesiology,” 107–24.
9. Luke 22:19. Unless otherwise noted, biblical quotations are taken from the NRSV.
10. Fast Dueck, “(Re)learning to Swim in Baptismal Waters,” 240.
11. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 279.
12. Luke 22:19; Matt 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; 1 Cor 11:24–25.
13. A helpful overview of the history and lines of tension in the sacramental tradition can be found in Fahey, “Sacraments.”
14. Jenson, Visible Words, 28.
15. Book of Common Prayer, 857.
16. Vander Zee, Recovering the Sacraments for Evangelical Worship, 29.
17. Yeago, “Apostolic Faith,” 2:177.
18. Luther, Babylonian Captivity, 124.
19. Ibid., 67.
20. Yeago, “Apostolic Faith,” 177.
21. As derived from Rom 4:11.
22. Calvin, Institutes, 1277.
23. See for example Matt 18:20 and John 14:17.
24. As quoted in Stephens, Huldrych Zwingli, 183.
25. Harper and Metzger, Exploring Ecclesiology, 141.
26. Grenz, Theology for the Community, 516.
27. Erickson, Christian Theology, 1110.
28. Jones, A Grammar of Christian Faith, 2:667.
29. Grenz, Theology for the Community, 516.
30. McClendon, “Baptism as a Performative Sign,” 403–16; also see his Doctrine, 2:386–406.
31. Yoder, Body Politics, 72–73.
32. Finger, Contemporary Anabaptist Theology, 158–83.
33. Jenson, Visible Words, 147.
34. Yoder, Body Politics, 72–73, 44–46; and Finger, Christian Theology, 2:331–51, as well as Contemporary Anabaptist
