An Anabaptist Theology 4

There are three dimensions to what Anabaptists believe: the personal, the communal, and the missional. Thomas Finger, in his big book A Contemporary Anabaptist Theology: Biblical, Historical, Constructive, seeks to show how anabaptism can be of help to theological discussions today. And he’s not afraid of the big topics, like baptism and the Lord’s supper. Today we want to look at baptism, and his proposals are strong.

How widespread among Catholics, Orthodox or mainliners is a reconsideration of infant baptism in favor of (conscious) believer baptism? What do you think the NT teaches?

He observes that many contemporary anabaptist theologians, thinkers, writers and teachers simply don’t focus on baptism or the Lord’s supper; instead, they focus more on the social-ethical dimensions, like peacemaking and justice. Finger thinks this itself needs to be addressed by sketching a full-blown understanding of how Anabaptists have understood baptism (and the Lord’s Supper, but today we deal with baptism).

Essentially, the historic view is that preaching of the gospel led to faith and faith to baptism and baptism to eucharist. Hence, for the Anabaptist, baptism was a conscious act and not a passive act done upon someone (an infant) who was/is not aware of what is happening.  The focus was inward though there is a demand for the outward act. But their sense of faith was not individualistic; it was personal but also communal.

And thus baptism, which has a rich history among Anabaptist writings, is a co-witness of inner faith and outer ceremony, spiritual reality and material expression, individual and congregational commitments, as well as a co-witness of the Trinity. So, then, what does Anabaptism say to the ecumenical discussion?Finger’s focus is on the conscious element, and thus a query of infant baptism. He sees a number of congregations, including some Catholics and mainliners (he says nothing here about Orthodoxy), who are revisiting the question and seeing the postmodern value of baptism as a conscious act and that, with our social conditions changing from Christendom into a post-Christendom realities, infant baptism, while acceptable, is less desirable.

Hence, Finger sees hope in others learning from the essence of the Anabaptist concious baptism mode.