Children at the Lord's Table: Assessing the Case for Paedocommunion

“Dr. Venema has written an important, useful, and timely book defending Reformed sacramental theology and practice against a novel and dangerous hyper–covenantal theology. Through a careful look at church history, the Reformed confessions, and the Bible, Dr. Venema presents and defends the historic Reformed teaching on who may come to the Lord’s Table in a way that is readable, thorough, helpful, and orthodox. I recommend it highly.”

“Children at the Lord’s Table?, one of the best treatments of this question, shows that Scripture clearly articulates that those invited to the table are called to come by believing in Christ, and not merely because they have been baptized as infants. I highly recommend this book.”

“Dr. Venema has done a great service for the Reformed churches in presenting a clear, compelling, biblical case for our historic practice regarding admission to the Lord’s Table. For about thirty–five years now, proponents of paedocommunion have been producing papers, articles, and monographs stating their historical and exegetical case(s) for paedocommunion. They have argued that to be consistent with our covenant theology we need to practice infant or young child communion. In this carefully and charitably articulated book, Venema shows why their arguments are not persuasive, and counters with historical, confessional, and exegetical support for what has been the official public theology and practice of the Protestant churches from their inception.”