Search for a command to run...
Abstract This chapter focuses on baptism of infants in the Episcopal Church and the Church of England, historically and today. It looks at the faith required of parents and godparents presenting the child, as well as the role of the faith of the church in supporting them. Infant baptism was present in the early church when entire households of converts to Christianity were baptized together, and, over time, infant baptism became more prevalent due to Augustine’s doctrine of original sin. It is this theology that influenced Thomas Cranmer in his development of the baptismal rites in the 1549 and 1552 Book of Common Prayer. Centuries later, during the Liturgical Movement, the theology of baptism shifted in focus from washing away original sin to discipleship within the community of faith. This chapter looks at the baptismal rites of the Prayer Books of 1549, 1552, 1979 (United States), and that of Common Worship.