I’m reading Henry Chadwick’s history The Early Church and there are some absolute gems which I’ll post for your reflection, edification and application.

Over the years I’ve had regular arguments with friends about infant baptism. Sooner or later we get round to debating its place in the early church, so I was interested to read this comment as Chadwick begins his section on the great Augustine of Hippo (b 354 AD) who converted to Christianity in 386 AD.

“In his Confessions, written some thirteen tears later, he described his personal quest in one of the most moving works of Christian prose. At his birth Monica [his mother] had had him signed with the cross and entered as a catechumen. (At this period it was still rather unusual for infants to be baptised.)” [emphasis added]

Augustine was baptised Easter 387AD. If it was unusual still in the 4th century then it strikes me as unlikely that the early church with either their oral traditions or on reading the scriptures thought infant baptism was the thing to do. If I ever start to feel argumentative on this blog, baptism will probably be the topic.

Just in case you were wondering, Chadwick himself was an Anglican clergyman so was no credo-baptist champion.