Publications
Covenantal Priesthood: a Narrative of Community for Baptist Churches by Anne Klose
This work in practical theology begins with an exploration of the psychosocial issues at play in Australian Baptist churches as communities. Many of those who attend such churches, and those like them in Britain and North America, often find a warm sense of welcome and belonging. What follows builds on this positive subjective experience through the lens of Christian community framed by the rich scriptural narrative of covenantal priesthood. Such corporate priesthood, as demonstrated by our early Baptist forebears, comes to joint expression in worship and sharing God’s blessing with his world, and affirms the mutual priestly service of covenanted church community.
“Baptist historian W. T. Whitley once suggested that “the distinctive feature about Baptists is their doctrine of the Church.” Yet this uniqueness is not uniform. It is evident in its diverse manifestations. Anne Klose has written an important book that puts the ecclesiology of Australian Baptists into wider conversations. She argues that one of the contributions that Baptist have to make is their commitment to a church of priests to each other, which resists the degrading influences of modern individualism. It is a word well worth pondering in this age of moral strangers.”
Curtis W. Freeman, Research Professor of Theology and Director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina, USA
About the author:
Anne Klose is Lecturer in Spiritual Formation and Baptist History & Theology at Malyon College, Brisbane