Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

KEARSLEY Baptism Then and Now 251

civil religion, the society surrounding him, and the politics dominating him,

dies away... Calling and faith.. .do not cause him to flee or scorn the world.

Rather they place him in the dawn of God's future which shall break over

the whole shrouded world.. ,^64

The sanctification of believers in their calling means transformation of this

life, not acquiescence in it. In other words, it means 'bodily and public

obedience'.^65 It is not necessary, with Rasmusson, to draw a contrast

between Moltmann's view of the Church as a contrasting society possess-

ing an alternative social and political practice, and his view of discipleship

as political activism.^66 One is always implied in the other for Moltmann.

To summarize, Moltmann sees baptism as calling to discipleship and as

& public decision and commitment to public messianic service. Its char-

acter is this in preference to an event for piety, whether experiential or

sacramental.

Conclusions

Moltmann's ideas on baptism form a radical contribution to ecumenical

discussion in the field but seem to have suffered quite undeserved neglect.

Many seminal suggestions emerge from his work, focusing on sanctifi-

cation, church, mission and discipleship. From this selective account we

certainly have enough evidence to trace an agenda shared by two theolo-

gians who are otherwise distanced from each other by centuries of social,

religious, political, cultural and theological development. Both view bap-

tism as entry into a radical public ethic which always contains challenge to

human power structures and the status quo. Both fall back on baptism to

combat nominalism and non-commitment. Both emphasize baptism as

liberation through the Spirit, though Moltmann also uses the Enlighten-

ment to critique ecclesiasticism and clericalism. Both are sympathetic to a

unity of 'sacred' and 'secular' and find such unity in baptism, though the

results are more embryonic in Tertullian and are skewed by the pressures

of martyrdom and asceticism. Moltmann, indeed, gives Tertullian's treat-

ment of baptism a facelift. He does this, paradoxically, by tightening the

rigour of baptismal discipleship. Keeping top-down laws is too easy and is

64. J. Moltmann, The Experiment Hope (London, SCM Press, 1975), p. 121.


65. Moltmann, The Experiment Hope, p. 122.


66. Rasmusson, The Church as Polis, pp. 376-77. In a very valuable and illumi-
    nating work, Rasmusson nevertheless sometimes says more, unintentionally, about his
    own mode of thought than about Moltmann's.