BAPTISM: PATRISTIC RESOURCES FOR ECUMENICAL DIALOGUEStephen R. Holmes
- Introduction
At a recent Baptist conference I attended, various papers considered
questions of Christian initiation: a particular baptismal practice is, after all,
central to Baptist identity. I was surprised by one facet of the discussions
surrounding those papers: it appeared that, almost without exception,
thoughtful Baptist pastors wanted to differentiate between those who had
never been baptized and those who had received infant baptism and later
confirmation. Although my tradition (and, indeed, the Declaration of
Principle of the Baptist Union of Great Britain) insists that baptism can
only be administered to believers, and so suggests that whatever rites one
may have undergone as an infant one remains unbaptized, there seems to
be a widespread intuition that we should treat with due seriousness the
consciences of those who believed themselves to be baptized.^1
My surprise resulted from the universality of this attitude: it is my own
fixed opinion, but I had supposed myself to be unusual in this. It raised
again a pressing ecumenical question: how can we Baptists be open and
accommodating to our Christian brothers and sisters, whilst remaining
faithful to our own convictions and best insights? This paper is an attemptto indicate some directions in which answers may be found.
Why, however, 'patristic resources'? For two reasons: first, and most
basically, because they are there; secondly, because the opinions and atti-
tudes of the Fathers of the Church are rightly taken with particular serious-
ness by us who follow. The theological tradition of the early Church was
nowhere nearly as fragmented as it has been in recent centuries; they
asked the questions for the first time, and so set the parameters for the
- In a sense, the question here is the relative importance attached to two Baptist
principles: it appears that many Baptist pastors believe that respecting the conscience
of those who have received infant baptism is at least as important as upholding our
particular understanding of the proper mode and subjects of the sacrament.