The Bible and Baptism: The Fountain of Salvation by Isaac Augustine Morales, OP (review)

Reviewed by: The Bible and Baptism: The Fountain of Salvation by Isaac Augustine Morales, OP Michael Witczak isaac augustine morales, op, The Bible and Baptism: The Fountain of Salvation (A Catholic Biblical Theology of the Sacraments; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022). Pp. xxi + 230. Paper 22. 99. Isaac Augustine Morales, a Dominican friar, has contributed this volume to a series on a Catholic biblical theology of the sacraments. M. has organized the book in two unequal sections. Part 1 in four chapters explores the image of water in the OT, focusing on the waters of life, of death, of freedom, and of purity. Part 2 is on baptism in the NT, explored in eight chapters. A brief synthetic conclusion brings the book to a close. There is an appendix on the argument whether infant baptism is scriptural. The book has helpful tools for the reader: in addition to the Selected Bibliography, M. recommends five titles as Suggested Resources. There is a subject index, and an index of Scripture and other ancient sources. In addition, there are two illustrations from baptisteries that highlight biblical themes, and a series of "sidebars" that are mainly quotations from patristic sources that correlate to the material discussed on the page. The most recent sidebars are from Thomas Aquinas and the Byzantine Nicholas Cabasilas. Morales tells the reader early on that the book is limited to the fundamental imagery of water. As a consequence, he does not deal with the role of anointing in baptism in any systematic way. The choice to begin with four chapters on the imagery of water in the OT is logical, given M. 's stated goal, but creates a sense of baptism being held in abeyance for the first part of the book. The sidebars in this section, however, connect the reader with baptism with short quotations from patristic authors using OT images from their mystagogical catecheses. One of the key references throughout the book is the venerable volume of the French Jesuit Jean Daniélou, The Bible and the Liturgy (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1956). This volume serves as a constant point of connection between the biblical text and the patristic liturgy of baptism. The sidebars always turn the reader's attention to Christ and baptism. A comment on how mystagogical preaching functions might have given the reader a better orientation to the meaning of the texts. The NT section of the book explores key baptismal themes in order: Christ's own baptism, Christ the source of baptism, baptizing "in the name, " dying and rising with Christ, being clothed with Christ, baptism and new birth, baptismal purity, and baptismal unity. The discussions in each chapter are clearly drawn and rooted in recent literature, with occasional references to older studies such as G. R. Beasley-Murray's Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962) and W. F. Flemington's The New Testament Doctrine of Baptism (London: SPCK, 1964). Not cited by M. are the current rituals of baptism in the Catholic Church. There are two rituals, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (Latin 1972; English translation 1988) and the Order of Baptism for Children (Latin 1969 and 1972; new English translation 2020). M. speaks of the celebration of baptism from time to time but remains committed to his limit of seeing the imagery of water as the main focus. It would be helpful for an occasional citation of the current ritual, perhaps in a sidebar, to connect the biblical theology with the Catholic sacrament that the series is exploring. The two subjects of baptism (adults and children) highlight different dimensions of the biblical tradition, and bringing the two into discussion might have led to some further theological insights. This work is helpful, making the literature of recent scholarship available to those who End Page 394 want to explore the sacraments in their scriptural home. M. helps the reader to understand some contested interpretations and to see the complexity of the biblical witness. Perhaps a future edition could enrich that discussion by exploring, for example, adult conversion and a child's incorporation as paths to salvation. Even with these lacunae, this is a fine work. . .