The Baptismal Revolution in the American Episcopal Church: Baptismal Ecclesiology and the Baptismal Covenant

Abstract The Episcopal Church has come to espouse a developed form of baptismal ecclesiology, in which all laypersons are believed to be ministers by virtue of their baptism and the ordained ministry is understood as a particular form of the ministry of all the baptized. The adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer was significant for this. Also included in that book was a 'Baptismal Covenant' that has come to be seen as an iconic statement of the Episcopal Church's commitment to social action