Another review of my “The Sign of the Gospel”

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Albert Shepherd, who runs a theology blog that I keep an eye on, recently reviewed my book - The Sign of the Gospel: Toward an Evangelical Doctrine of Infant Baptism after Karl Barth – for Reviews in Religion and Theology. It appears in the current number: vol. 21, issue 2 (2014). Shepherd also posted about it on his blog, where he includes a “short addendum” making clear that – alas – I have not succeeded in convincing him of my constructive proposal.

But he has nice things to say about the book anyway. For instance, Shepherd says in his addendum that “this is a fine work which understands Barth well and winsomely interacts with his thought.” In the review he closes with the following words:
He [McMaken] compellingly argues that renewed attention should be given to Barth’s doctrine of baptism, and also provides his own unique voice to the wider conversation. In doing so he provides a fruitful contribution to the ongoing dialogue on baptism.
But perhaps my favorite bit was when Shepherd conceded that in my constructive proposal I succeeded in “showing persuasively that this is another consistent route that Barth could have taken.”

So, my thanks to Shepherd for another positive review for this book! Kind of makes one want to go out a buy a copy…

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