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As a theological student in Finland, Dr. Saarnivaara became interested in the question of Scriptural baptism. Which baptism, he wondered, had the most authority: the one a person received in infancy, or the one received as an adult after a conscious conversion. Should he, as one who had been baptized in infancy, be baptized again, after his conversion, in order to be a Christian in the Biblical sense, or was the baptism he received as a child valid?

In seeking an answer, he studied the Bible and the copious literature on both sides of the question. Now, in this book, cast in dialog form, Dr. Saarnivaara offers the result of his study, examining the question exhaustively from both sides.

Some of the questions which are thoroughly discussed are:

• Was infant baptism practiced in the time of Christ and the Apostles?
• Did Christ want His Church to practice infant baptism, or baptism after conscious conversion?
• Does the New Testament teach baptism as a means of grace, or as an act of obedience and confession of faith?
• What does the Bible teach as the relationship between baptism and regeneration?
• What was the practice and teaching of the post-Apostolic and the Ancient Church?
• What was the original method of baptism: immersion or pouring (or sprinkling)?

In developing his theme, Dr. Saarnivaara has set forth the pros and cons of this age-old and still acute problem with admirable exactitude and lucidity. It is easy for the layperson to comprehend, but it is not superficial reading. From the thousands who regard religious problems like baptism worthy of thoughtful consideration and study, however, Dr. Saarnivaara's book should receive keen attention.

Dr. Uuras Saarnivaara - son of a Lutheran minister - was born in southern Finland. He studied in the Theological Department of the University of Helsinki from 1926 to 1930 and in 1930 was ordained a minister for the Lutheran Church of Finland. He served several parishes in Finland and did graduate work at the University of Helsinki, receiving his M. A. degree in 1936 and his Candidate of Theology (now called Licentiate of Theology) in 1939. From 1936 to 1937 he studied in the London College of Divinity. In 1939 he was called to the Chair of Theology at Suomi Theological Seminary, Hancock, Mich.

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt is Professor of Theology at Concordia University in Irvine, CA. He was educated at Pacific Lutheran College (B.S.), Capitol Theological Seminary (M.Div.) Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A.), and the University of Strasbourg (Ph.D.). Dr. Rosenbladt has contributed to book projects such as 'Christianity for the Tough Minded', 'The Agony of Deceit', and 'Christ The Lord'. Rod is the co-host of the White Horse Inn radio program as well as a council member of Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He is also an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.