Confirmation: The Stewardship of Baptism

What is confirmation ministry? Confirmation has changed from being understood as a sacrament, marking the time at which a person receives his or her first communion, to a rite, a ritual in which the baptized is reminded of his or her baptismal vows and initiated into the community of discipleship. This articles explores confirmation as the stewardship of baptism among Batak Christians and Asian Lutherans.     

Baptism and the Soteriology of Forgiveness

This article examines the relation of Christian baptism to the saving work of God in Christ. In critical conversation with the later work of Barth, the article argues that baptism, as visible word, both attests and mediates divine forgiveness. Consequently, baptism with water and baptism with the Holy Spirit are not to be bifurcated from each other. Believer's baptism is the norm, although infant baptism is not excluded. Baptism exemplifies the koinonia of divine and human action without falling into synergism, and without appealing to inappropriate notions of causality.     

Baptism in a Secular Age

In the Western world, the cultural conditions for interpreting and practicing baptism have changed radically in recent decades. An increasing level of religious plurality is one cultural trend that the theology of baptism must take seriously. One option for responding to this challenge is to interpret baptism as a rite of drastic communal transition whereby one enters into the church and leaves the world—with all its plurality—behind. Another option is to view baptism as a rite that, by bringing us into the church's fellowship with God in Christ, draws us into communion with all living creatures and calls upon us to engage in openness toward others.     

Infant Baptism as a Family Rite of Passage

Anthropological definitions of rites of passage and family system theory are employed to make the case that infant baptism is itself a rite of passage, not merely for the infant being baptized and its parents, but for its whole extended family. The pregnancy, birth, and fourth trimester following birth are analyzed as the significant context for the rite of baptism, a context whose broad psychophysical, psychosocial, and psychospiritual dimensions affect and are affected by the rite of baptism. It is argued that pastoral preparation for a particular baptism and the aftercare that follows it need to be far more extensive than is common pastoral practice.     

Seeking Hospitable Discourse on the Sacrament of Baptism

Not salvation but spirituality gives a hospitable rationale for the practice of baptism. On the basis of Luther's theology of grace and justification (Large Catechism) and the purpose of sacraments as stated in the Lutheran confessional texts (Augsburg Confession), Lutheran sacramental theology today can re‐adjust its language about the “necessity” of baptism and consider its hospitable interpretation and practice.