Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

(Michael S) #1

266 Dimensions of Baptism


practice: that is why they took the time to write about it (in Augustine's


case, at some length). Neither, however, and crucially, thought that this


was the most important thing. If the unity and good order of the Church is


best served by trusting that irregularities in this area will be forgiven by


God, then so be it—only preserve the bond of love.


Which raises the second, and much more important, point: the unity of


the Church, like the unity of our triune Lord, is fundamentally and irre-


ducibly a unity of love, not of shared sacrament. Pace the Lima text,


which seems to link the oneness and catholicity of the Church with baptis-


mal unity (BEM B6), the Church was once and may again be one and


catholic without agreement on the proper administration of baptism, and


containing within it some whom some of its members believe to be unbap-


tized (so Cyprian of schismatics received without rebaptism) and some


whom some of its members believe to be twice-baptized (so Augustine of


those Cyprian rebaptized), if only these divisions are covered by mutual


charity and a commitment to unity. For Augustine, the sin of schism, the


refusal to live in charity with fellow-Christians, is so great a failing that he


would rather people were idolaters (On Baptism 2.9); he even says at one


point 'on the question of whether we ought to prefer a Catholic of the most


abandoned character to a heretic in whose life, except that he is a heretic,


men can find nothing to blame, I do not venture to give a hasty judgement'


(4.27), so serious is the guilt of failing to love.


In identifying Church unity with a particular form of sacramental unity


the Lima text went beyond the testimonies of the Fathers. Rather, for


Augustine and Basil, sacramental unity is to be preserved, even in the face


of grave difficulties, only because there is a prior and underlying unity of


charity. This insight, borrowed from Augustine particularly, surely may


help us to move forward in ecumenical debate. I conclude with some prac-


tical suggestions as to how it might:


(1) We must accept that a variety of baptismal practice is not an insu-


perable bar to Church unity, provided we respond to each other in charity.


That charity will even involve us accepting that dearly held positions


concerning the right ordering of the Church must be—not discarded, but—


regarded constantly as secondary to the demand to love.


(2) Following Augustine, Basil and Cyprian, we ought even to accept


that baptismal practices we consider to be deeply irregular—a refusal to be


baptized 'properly', or an act of rebaptism—should not be a bar to charity,


unity and communion, provided always they are not done with any inten-


tion of promoting schism.

Free download pdf