Font And The Table

An essay on the theology of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, interpreting them as symbolic events that represent the renewing action of God.


Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are means of grace, representing spiritual realities by whose observance the Church and its members celebrate the life they are given in Christ.

Upon this belief Professor Arndt examines the meaning of “sacramental theology” particularly in its relation to the whole of the Gospel of Christ. He believes that the “Font” and “Table” are symbolic events representing God’s renewing action, and through them this “Community of faith and people of God becomes concrete in historical actuality”.

He does not claim that this essay provides a complete sacramental theology. He is primarily concerned with securing a perspective of sacramental practice in the hope of assisting in a “reconstruction of sacramental teaching, a more responsible ordering of practice and a more understanding participation in the sacraments of the gospel”.

Dr. Elmer J. F. Arndt, was one of the leading theologians of the United Church of Christ, U.S.A.. He was Professor of Historical Theology at the Eden Theological Seminary at Webster Groves near St. Louis, U.S.A. He died in 1969.