Diversity in baptism

Overview

Recall questions on Augustine and original sin, Zwingli's older analogy, household passages in Acts, Barth's objection, the place of consent, and the Baptist part in Welsh religious life.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Why did St Augustine of Hippo insist that infants be baptised?

   Model answer

   He held that every child inherits the guilt of original sin from Adam, and that baptism is the God-given means by which that guilt is washed away.

2. 2

   Against whom did Augustine develop his argument about original sin?

   Model answer

   Against Pelagius and his followers, who denied inherited sin and held that a person could choose the good without prior grace.

3. 3

   What did Augustine's position imply about a child who died unbaptised?

   Model answer

   On his account such a child could not enter the kingdom, though he argued the penalty would be the lightest of all, and later Catholic teaching has preferred to entrust such children to God's mercy.

4. 4

   How does Huldrych Zwingli's defence of infant baptism differ from Augustine's?

   Model answer

   Zwingli denied that the water itself conveys grace and treated baptism instead as a covenant sign marking a child's place among God's people.

5. 5

   Which older practice did Zwingli compare infant baptism with?

   Model answer

   Circumcision, which was given to the sons of the covenant community on the eighth day, long before any decision of their own.

6. 6

   What part do parents and godparents play at an infant baptism?

   Model answer

   They profess the faith on the child's behalf and undertake to bring the child up within it until the child is able to answer for themselves.

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