Baptism and the process of Christian initiation

Ecumenical Review, The, Jan-June, 2002 by Paul S. Fiddes

Traditionally, a kind of "two-stage" view of initiation or Christian beginnings--baptism and confirmation--was held by Anglicans in both the "Reformed" and "Tractarian" traditions. Despite the fact that confirmation was a late development in the West (9th century), and despite ambiguity about whether candidates were confirming their faith or whether God was confirming (establishing) their salvation, some view of an extended process prevailed. The two rites might be understood as two sacramental acts in sequence, or two parts of the same sacrament divided in time. As recently as the 1958 report on baptism and confirmation, it could be confidently said that "the word `confirm' possesses two meanings--to strengthen and to complete ... these two ways of looking at confirmation are not mutually exclusive". (14) In the Reformed tradition, completion of initiation in confirmation was seen to be necessary to leave place for the confession of personal faith; there is good evidence that the English Reformers only felt able to retain the practice of infant baptism because the child, being brought up in a Christian society, was certain in the course of time to make the baptismal promise on his or her own ("until he come of age to take it upon himself"), (15) and was indeed "bound to believe, and to do", as the godparents had promised on the child's behalf. (16) In the Tractarian tradition, confirmation by the bishop was associated with the authority of the "historic episcopate", including such aspects as a personal link with the minister regarded as the focus of unity in the church, and the receiving of a "sealing with the Spirit" by the person understood to be "the special organ of the Spirit in his own church, by the bestowal of which men are made ... full members of the people of God ... by confirmation". (17)

During the last forty years both the "Reformed" and "Tractarian" traditions within Anglicanism have reacted against a "two-stage" view. Among the Reformed and evangelicals, objection to the notion of the bishop as mediator of the Spirit in the church has been combined with a desire to keep baptism as a covenantal rite within the Christian family; stressing the completeness of baptism seems to make it more difficult to regard it as a means of bringing a mission field within the borders of the church. The high church wing of Anglicanism has itself adopted a modified view of the historic episcopate, regarding it as of the bene esse of the church, with implications for confirmation by the bishop; (18) at the same time, emphasizing the church as a sacramental community has made the closest link between baptism and eucharist desirable. Perhaps all parties in the church have also been affected by the social pressures of "family church/family eucharist": to refuse unconfirmed children communion seems to be denying them a place in the church, and to be sending an unwelcoming message. Generally, the theological view has prevailed that the "seal of the Spirit" in New Testament understanding is given in the act of baptism, and not in a later rite. (19)