The Secularization of Baptism

Does God actually do anything in baptism? Is it more than just a symbol? Most early Baptists would have answered "yes." Most Baptists today would answer "no." How and why did this change happen--and does it matter? Providing thorough documentation of the changing understandings of baptism among American, Canadian, and English Baptists from the 1600s to the present day, The Secularization of Baptism demonstrates that four factors led to the symbolic-only position becoming dominant. These were sus