Christian Initiation

Tracing the issues arising from the New Testament in the traditions of the churches, Wainwright provides an ecumenical conspectus of the continuous debate on Christian baptism. He surveys the positions of different churches on baptism and confirmation, and relates them to the New Testament treatment. He shows that the New Testament's apparent favouring of different views of the relation between grace and faith in baptism provides a basis for an ecumenical pattern of Christian initiation.

A minister of the Methodist Church, Dr. Geoffrey Wainwright (1939-) is Robert Earl Cushman Professor of Christian Theology, Duke Divinity School. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge, Geneva and the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome. He taught theology in Cameroon (1967-73), where he was Professor of Dogmatics at the Faculte de Theologie Protestante; in Birmingham, England (1973-79); and at Union Theological Seminary, New York (1979-83). He has held visiting professorships at the University of Notre Dame, the Gregorian University in Rome, and the Uniting Faculty of Theology in Melbourne, Australia. He was a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, President of the international Societas Liturgica (1983-85) and of the American Theological Society (1996-97), and currently (2002) chairs the international dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church. Publications: Christian initiation, 1969 Eucharist and Eschatology Doxology Worship with One Accord For our salvation: two approaches to the Work of Christ The Study of Liturgy (Edr) The Study of Spirituality (Edr) The Ecumenical Moment Methodists in Dialogue