History of the Laying on of Hands on Baptized Believers($26.00Value)

Description

Based on your manuscript’s contents—biblical types of laying on of hands, Jewish semikah, Baptist pro-and-con arguments, Griffith, Keach, David Jones, and the later decline of the practice—here is a strong Amazon back-cover summary. The History of the Laying on of Hands is a sweeping documentary study of one of the most neglected and disputed practices in Baptist history. From the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the Jewish idea of semikah, through the apostolic examples in Acts and Hebrews 6, this book traces the solemn meaning of laying on of hands as an act of identification, blessing, consecration, ordination, and church order. Guillermo Santamaria gathers the major arguments for and against the practice, giving special attention to the Baptist controversy over laying hands upon baptized believers. The reader is brought into the world of John Griffith, Benjamin Keach, Thomas Grantham, David Jones, and those who opposed them, where the real question was never merely ceremony, but authority: What has Christ commanded His churches to keep? This volume includes historical testimony, scriptural argument, forgotten Baptist writings, objections answered, and a careful account of how the practice came to be almost abandoned among Baptists. It is both a history and a challenge—a call to recover the seriousness with which earlier Baptists searched the Scriptures, guarded the ordinances, and sought to preserve the order of Christ’s house. A valuable resource for pastors, church historians, Old School Baptists, Primitive Baptists, and all readers who care about biblical church order.