Believing in Baptism

Believing in Baptism

In 2020 Stephen wrote Believing in Baptism: Understanding and Living God’s Covenant Sign. This was a major revision and expansion of a book first written by Stephen’s father, Gordon Kuhrt in 1987. A good deal of the book focuses on the theme of God’s covenant throughout the Bible on the basis that most misunderstandings of baptism are rooted in neglect or misunderstanding of the covenant. From this basis, the book then deals with the various controversial issues involved in baptism including questions of its efficacy (what, if anything, baptism brings about), infant baptism, believer’s baptism, indiscriminate or open baptism, rebaptism and whether baptism requires completion through an additional ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ or through Confirmation.

A major aspect of the book is its claim, which we try to exemplify at Christ Church, that practicing infant baptism with integrity is intrinsically linked to establishing a form of church that is relevant and accessible to children and newcomers. An additional aspect of the new edition of the book is a narrative introduction and epilogue. Here six church leaders of different traditions/denominations in the fictional town of ‘Melton Sudbury’ seek to develop their understanding and practice of baptism in dialogue with one another.

The aim of these sections is to make the issues examined in the book more accessible to readers in the hope that baptism can gain the greater ongoing significance for our Christian lives that it is given within the New Testament.

Shortly after the publication of Believing in Baptism, Stephen did an interview about the book which you can access here.