The font means different things for different people. Naturally, it is sacred, because it is home to one of the sacraments, but let's break it down even further. Any baptismal font has three core pieces: the stand or base, the bowl, and the water. These three parts, for our purposes stand for three things: philosophical theology, historical theology, and practical theology. Just like the font you cannot have one of these without the other, like that of Friedrich Schleiermacher's tree metaphor.

The base of the font supports the font and therefore is the basis from which practical theology stems, philosophical theology. Philosophical theology, Scleiermacher says, "is the root of all theology," meaning that it deals "with the essence, the concepts, and the idea of Christianity."*

Then there is historical theology which is the bowl of the font that houses the water. This is because historical theology includes: "biblical studies, church history, dogmatic or systematic theology, and church statistics, which is "an inquiry into the Christian faith community, past and present."*

Lastly, practical theology is the water in the font, and is therefore the acting part of all of this. It is where action meets knowledge, where God meets his disciples.

Therefore, you can see that you cannot have one with the others, because they all function together towards a greater outcome. An outcome where God's children come together for the greater good.

*from Prelude to Practical Theology by Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner