Baptists and the Communion of Saints: A Theology of Covenanted Disciples

by Paul S. Fiddes, Brian Haymes, Richard Kidd

This book fuses the Church's traditional doctrine of the Communion of Saints and Baptists' theology of salvation and discipleship--charting how Baptists can speak of a communion of saints here and now. Communion is only possible within the fellowship of the "triune" God who covenants with and for believers.

Reframing communion within a theology of covenant enables the affirmation of the practice of prayer and mutual support with all faithful disciples, both alive and dead. Such a covenantal understanding of communion avoids an unhealthy obsession with communication with those who have died. This book thus makes a significant and practical difference in the way Baptists understand the nature of the church, prepare their worship, care for the dying and the bereaved, practice spiritual journeys, and celebrate baptism and the Lord's Supper.

238 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2014

About the author

Paul S. Fiddes is an English Baptist theologian and novelist. Fiddes is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford, Principal Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow of Regent's Park College, Oxford and a former Chairman of the Oxford Faculty of Theology. He holds a DPhil in Theology from Oxford (1975) and was awarded a DD from Oxford (2004). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest, and a Fellow of the British Academy (2020).

Reviews

[Jamey Yadon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate the project of bringing the saints into Baptist life in a way that's consistent with our teachings. The problem is that the book is mainly a construction of a philosophical theory of the communion of saints. The book is light on biblical exposition and much of the content is dependent on the work of AN Whitehead.