The Answers in an Hour series is a collection of short, easily digestible books written with the inquirer in mind.

"My goal in this little book is pastorally to explain the scriptural foundation for infant baptism. To do this, I will first present the biblical support for infant baptism as I have presented it in new members' and church officer training classes over the past twenty-five years. Then I will conclude by offering words of explanation that I have often used as a pastor during the administration of the ordinance. My goals are to help explain why we should baptize the infants of believing parents and also to help pastors better to know how to administer the sacrament in ways that are meaningful and helpful for their churches. Thus, I plan to present this material in terms that are accessible to laypersons and to leave technical discussions to able scholars in other books."

The issue of baptism has troubled Protestants for centuries. Should infants be baptized before their faith is conscious, or does God command the baptism of babies whose parents have been baptized? Popular New Testament scholar Scot McKnight makes a biblical case for infant baptism, exploring its history, meaning, and practice and showing that infant baptism is the most historic Christian way of forming children into the faith. He explains that the church's practice of infant baptism developed straight from the Bible and argues that it must begin with the family and then extend to the church. Baptism is not just an individual profession of faith: it takes a family and a church community to nurture a child into faith over time. McKnight explains infant baptism for readers coming from a tradition that baptizes adults only, and he counters criticisms that fail to consider the role of families in the formation of faith. The book includes a foreword by Todd Hunter and an afterword by Gerald McDermott.

contents1. A Pastoral Overview of Infant Baptism2. Matthew 28: 18-20 and the Institution of Baptism3. Unto You and Your Children4. The Oikos Formula5. Baptism and Circumcision as Signs and Seals6. The Mode of Baptism7. The Newness of the New Covenant8. Infant Baptism in the New Covenant9. Covenant Transition10. Covenant Theology and Baptism11. Infant Baptism in the Reformed Confessions12. Infant Baptism in History: An Unfinished Tragi-Comedy13. The Polemics of Anabaptism: Antipaedobaptism from the Reformation Period Onward14. Baptism and Children: Their Place in the Old and New Testaments15. In Jesus' Name, Amen

In Baptism: Three Views, editor David F. Wright has provided a forum for thoughtful proponents of three principal evangelical views on baptism to state their case, respond to the others, and then provide a summary response and statement. Sinclair Ferguson sets out the case for infant baptism, Bruce Ware presents the case for believers' baptism, and Anthony Lane argues for a mixed practice.