Pædobaptism Examined

Abraham Booth, Pædobaptism Examined (1784)

Abraham Booth (1734–1806)

Long, thickly annotated, and wading carefully.

Catch rate: 120 / 255
Base research: 140
Stat total: 236

Base stats

Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.

Stamina70

Contend62

Defend56

Popularity48

Total236

Why these numbers

The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.

Stamina 70

STAMINA — High. It is three volumes in its fullest form.

Contend 62

CONTEND — Moderate. It lets other writers make most of the points.

Defend 56

DEFEND — Moderate. Its method is quotation, so it is only as strong as the quotations.

Popularity 48

POPULARITY — Low. It is a book for readers who already want it.

Cited for this book

Abraham Booth was a Baptist pastor in London. Pædobaptism Examined (1784) collected pages of admissions from writers who baptised infants: that immersion was the early practice, that the word means to dip, and that Scripture does not command infant baptism. He then asked why the practice had changed. A second edition in three volumes followed in 1829.

Moves learned

By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.

Lv	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr	Acc	PP
1	Random Verse	Bible	Argument	10	100%	30
1	A Gracious Appointment of God	Ecclesiology	Argument	64	100%	20
9	Which English Word?	History	Argument	60	100%	20
30	Chapter…	Bible	Scripture	—	—	12

The quotes behind its moves

How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.

Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.

“Baptism being a gracious appointment of God, it must have an important meaning; and as it is a positive ordinance, the whole of its design must be fixed by divine institution”
Abraham Booth, Pædobaptism Examined (1784), vol. 1, the Reflections that close the chapter on positive institutions (Palmer ed., 1829), public domain.public domain

A Gracious Appointment of God

EcclesiologyArgument · power 64 · 100% accurate

In the gameBooth’s method in a sentence. Baptism is a positive ordinance, he says, which means its meaning has to come from what God has said and nowhere else. A person has no more right to invent a meaning for a rite than to appoint the rite.

“While our brethren maintain that the term baptism, when relating to the institution so called, means any thing short of immersion; it behoves them to inform us, which of our English words is competent to express its adequate idea.”
Abraham Booth, Pædobaptism Examined (1784), vol. 1, the Reflections that close the chapter on the meaning of the word baptism (Palmer ed., 1829), public domain.public domain

Which English Word?

HistoryArgument · power 60 · 100% accurate

In the gameBooth’s challenge to anyone who says baptism means something short of immersion. Name the English word, he says, that carries the whole of the idea. He notes that they seldom settle on one.