A Theology For The Renewal Of The Baptismal Covenant

The separation of confirmation from baptism in the West has left an enduring legacy of unease among paedobaptist Christian theologians. If baptism is indeed the full and complete rite of initiation into the church, what is the role of confirmation, whether as a sacrament (Roman Catholic) or a catechetical and social rite of passage (Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed)? Is a baptized but unconfirmed child not really a full member of the church? Adult-baptizing churches maintain baptism's full initiatory status by reserving baptism until children are old enough to make their own commitments, but this still leaves the unbaptized children somehow both inside yet outside the church (see chapter 4). In infant-baptizing traditions, one way of dealing with the problem is to treat confirmation and other occasions in later life simply as renewals of baptism. In this way, baptism itself retains its significance as full, complete entry into the church while asserting that its promises are capable of bei…