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Infant Baptism and Christening

Lifecycle Rituals

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Origin 150 to 500 CE

Christening is baptism plus naming, and the practice of applying it to infants is the oldest live disagreement in Christianity about who a sacrament is for. Churches that baptise infants argue that the covenant is offered before it can be earned, that whole households are baptised in the New Testament, and that the faith of the church carries the child until it can carry itself; godparents exist to say the words the infant cannot. Churches that do not argue that baptism follows a confession no infant can make, and that the New Testament shows believers being baptised, not babies. The Orthodox churches baptise by triple immersion, chrismate and give communion to the infant in one continuous act; the Latin church separates confirmation and first communion by years, which is a difference about whether initiation is one event or three.

Facts
Origins
Origin Period
150 to 500 CE 1
Origin Period
Disputed since the Reformation and disputed still 1
Place of Origin
The Roman Empire, particularly North Africa 1
Historical Origin
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church traces the practice of baptizing infants to the early centuries of the church, becoming the ordinary form of baptism in most Christian communions even as a minority of traditions came to reject it in favor of baptism upon a personal profession of faith. 1
Status
Status Today
Living tradition, practised today 1
Meaning
Literal Meaning
"Christening" descends from the Old English verb cristnian, to make Christian, a word built around conferring Christian identity on the child rather than around the water rite itself; "baptism" instead descends from the Greek baptizein, to dip or immerse, naming the physical action. The two words' different roots foreshadow the same theological fault line between traditions that see baptism as a covenant offered before it can be earned and traditions that require a confession only an adult can make. 1
Function
Stage of Life Marked
Naming of a child 1
Stage of Life Marked
Entry into the community or the order 1
Attributions
Purpose
Infant baptism, practised by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and many mainline Protestant churches, admits a child into the Christian community on the faith of its parents and godparents, in contrast to traditions that reserve baptism for a personal profession of faith. 1
Practice
Who Performs It
Clergy or ordained officiants 1
Obligation
Obligatory 2Tradition: Roman Catholicism
Sourced to the subject's own accountObligatory: parents are bound to have an infant baptised within the first weeks
Frequency
Once, or at a turning point in a life 1
Solitary or Communal
Performed by an officiant for a recipient 1
Learn More
Whether a Rite Can Be Given to Someone Who Cannot Ask for It

Christening is baptism with a naming attached, and the question of whether infants should receive it is the longest-running unresolved argument in Christian practice. Both sides have a coherent case and neither has ever persuaded the other.

The churches that baptise infants argue that grace is prior to response. Whole households are baptised in Acts without any note of who in them could speak. The covenant sign in the Hebrew Bible was applied to eight-day-old boys, and the church that reads itself as continuous with Israel sees no reason to require of infants what was never required before. Augustine sharpened this into an argument from original sin that made infant baptism close to urgent, and the practice of emergency baptism by a midwife, valid without any clergy, follows directly from taking that seriously. Godparents exist to make the profession the child cannot.

The churches that do not baptise infants argue that the New Testament shows baptism following a confession of faith, that nothing can be professed on another person's behalf, and that a rite administered to someone incapable of meaning it is not the rite at all. The sixteenth-century Anabaptists took this position and baptised adults who had already been baptised as infants, which their opponents treated as a capital offence; the name that stuck to them means rebaptisers and was an accusation. Baptist, Mennonite and most Pentecostal churches hold the position today.

The consequences are not confined to theology. Because the second group does not regard an infant baptism as a baptism at all, and the first regards rebaptism as a serious wrong, the two cannot fully recognise each other's members without one of them conceding. Most ecumenical agreements of the last century have managed the disagreement rather than resolved it.

A quieter difference sits alongside it. The Orthodox churches baptise, chrismate and give communion to an infant in a single continuous rite. The Latin church spreads the same three actions across a decade or more. That is a disagreement about whether Christian initiation is one event or three, and it has nothing to do with the age question at all.

How Old the Argument Is

Infant baptism was widespread enough by the early centuries of Christianity that when the theologian Augustine of Hippo argued in the late fourth and early fifth centuries that infants needed baptism because they inherited a real, culpable original sin from Adam, he was defending an already established practice against critics rather than proposing something new, and his position became the dominant Western account of why the rite could not simply wait for a person old enough to ask for it.

The argument stayed largely settled within the Catholic and later Orthodox churches for over a thousand years. It reopened sharply during the Protestant Reformation, when Anabaptist groups in the sixteenth century rejected infant baptism outright, arguing that faith had to precede a valid baptism and that baptizing someone incapable of belief was not merely premature but invalid, a position for which they were persecuted by both Catholic and mainstream Protestant authorities of the time. That sixteenth century split runs in an unbroken line to the present divide between traditions that baptize infants, Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and most Reformed churches among them, and Baptist and other believer's baptism traditions descended from the Anabaptist position, which baptize only those old enough to profess faith themselves, making this one of the oldest continuously unresolved disagreements in Christian practice.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Belongs to Tradition

African Methodist Episcopal Church, Denominations

Kept in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first denomination in the United States founded by Black people. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Denominations

Kept in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Anglican Communion, Denominations

Kept across the provinces of the Anglican Communion. The Articles direct that the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

Anglicanism, Denominations

The Articles direct that the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account
Armenian Apostolic Church, Denominations

Kept in the Armenian Apostolic Church. Infants are baptised and receive the full rite of initiation. Coptic custom sets the day at forty for a boy and eighty for a girl.

Assyrian Church of the East, Denominations

Infants are baptised.

Calvinism (Reformed), Denominations

The infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptised, and the Confession calls it a great sin to contemn or neglect the ordinance.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Denominations

Kept in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Christianity, Religions
Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)
Church of Cyprus, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Cyprus, autocephalous since the Council of Ephesus in 431. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Church of England, Denominations

Kept in the Church of England, the province from which the Prayer Book tradition comes. The Articles direct that the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

Church of Greece, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Greece. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Church of Ireland, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Ireland. The Articles direct that the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

Church of Scotland, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Scotland, the established Presbyterian church of that country. The infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptised, and the Confession calls it a great sin to contemn or neglect the ordinance.

Church of Sweden, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Sweden, which retained the historic episcopate through the Reformation as few Lutheran churches did. Infants are baptised, and the Anabaptists are condemned by name in the Augsburg Confession for rejecting it.

Church of the Nazarene, Denominations

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Coptic Orthodoxy, Denominations

Kept in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Infants are baptised and receive the full rite of initiation. Coptic custom sets the day at forty for a boy and eighty for a girl.

Dutch Reformed Church, Denominations

Kept in the Dutch Reformed tradition, which holds the Heidelberg Catechism among its confessional standards. The infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptised, and the Confession calls it a great sin to contemn or neglect the ordinance.

Eastern Orthodoxy, Denominations

Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Source Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic ChurchIsabel Florence Hapgood (compiler and translator)
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Denominations

Kept in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the see of first honour among the Orthodox churches. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Denominations

Kept in the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Infants are baptised and receive the full rite of initiation. Coptic custom sets the day at forty for a boy and eighty for a girl.

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Denominations

Kept in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Infants are baptised and receive the full rite of initiation. Coptic custom sets the day at forty for a boy and eighty for a girl.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Denominations

Kept in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Infants are baptised, and the Anabaptists are condemned by name in the Augsburg Confession for rejecting it.

Free Methodist Church, Denominations

Kept in the Free Methodist Church. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Georgian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has used its own language and script in worship since the fifth century. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Global Methodist Church, Denominations

Kept in the Global Methodist Church, formed in 2022. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Greek Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Greek Orthodox churches. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Lutheranism, Denominations

Infants are baptised, and the Anabaptists are condemned by name in the Augsburg Confession for rejecting it.

Source The Augsburg ConfessionPhilipp Melanchthon
Maronite Church, Denominations

Infants receive baptism and chrismation together.

Methodism, Denominations

Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Source The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist ChurchUnited Methodist Churchthe holders' own account
Moravian Church, Denominations

Infants are baptised.

Old Believers, Denominations

Infants are baptised by full immersion.

Oriental Orthodoxy, Denominations

Infants are baptised and receive the full rite of initiation. Coptic custom sets the day at forty for a boy and eighty for a girl.

Source The Egyptian or Coptic Church: A Detailed Description of Her Liturgical ServicesO. H. E. KHS-Burmester
Presbyterianism, Denominations

The children of members are baptised on the profession of a parent, and the session admits them to the roll of the congregation.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account
Roman Catholicism, Denominations

Infants are baptised, and the practice is defended on the ground that grace is not withheld until a child can ask for it.

Source Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd editionHoly Seethe holders' own account
Romanian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the one Orthodox church of the Byzantine tradition whose language is Romance. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Russian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Slavonic recension of the Byzantine books. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Saint Thomas Christians, Denominations

Infants receive the full rite of initiation.

Serbian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Serbian Orthodox Church. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

The Episcopal Church, Denominations

Kept in the Episcopal Church, whose own Prayer Book descends from the Scottish rather than the English line. The Articles direct that the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

The United Methodist Church, Denominations

Kept in the United Methodist Church. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Denominations

Infants receive the full rite of initiation in one service, not the Latin sequence of baptism now and confirmation years later.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Infants are baptised, chrismated and communicated in one rite, so initiation is complete before the child can speak.

Wesleyan Church, Denominations

Kept in the Wesleyan Church. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Conducted By

Priest, Religious Roles & Titles
Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

Critiqued By

Amish, Denominations

Baptism follows the decision to join the church, which is made in adulthood at the end of Rumspringa, and cannot be made for a child.

Anabaptism, Denominations

Baptism is given to those who have been taught, who have learned repentance and who ask for it of their own will. Infant baptism is named in the Schleitheim articles as the highest and chief abomination of the pope.

Source The Schleitheim ConfessionMichael Sattler (attributed)
Baptist, Denominations

Baptism is for those who have professed faith, so the baptism of an infant is not a baptism at all and a person so treated is baptised on profession later. This is the point on which the tradition takes its name.

Source The Baptist Faith and MessageSouthern Baptist Convention
Churches of Christ, Denominations

Baptism is by immersion, for the remission of sins, of a person old enough to believe and confess, so an infant is not a candidate.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Denominations

Baptism follows a person's own decision and an examination in the teaching, and is by complete immersion, so no infant is baptised.

Mennonites, Denominations

The Dordrecht confession requires that a candidate be taught and believe before baptism, so the baptism of infants has no standing.

Source The Dordrecht Confession of FaithDutch Mennonite ministers assembled at Dordrecht
National Baptist Convention of America, Denominations

Kept in the National Baptist Convention of America International. Baptism is for those who have professed faith, so the baptism of an infant is not a baptism at all and a person so treated is baptised on profession later. This is the point on which the tradition takes its name.

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Denominations

Kept in the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Baptism is for those who have professed faith, so the baptism of an infant is not a baptism at all and a person so treated is baptised on profession later. This is the point on which the tradition takes its name.

Quakerism (Religious Society of Friends), Denominations

No child is baptised, because no person is baptised outwardly at any age.

Source Quaker Faith and Practice: The Book of Christian Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in BritainBritain Yearly Meetingthe holders' own account
Seventh-day Adventism, Denominations

Baptism is by immersion and follows instruction and profession, so infants are dedicated rather than baptised.

Related To

Compadrazgo, Doctrines

Ritual Implements

Holy Water, Sacred Objects & Ritual Items
Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)
Sources
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005Baptism; Anabaptists; GodparentsView the Source
2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition
Holy See, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997Paragraphs 1250-1252, 1290the holders' own accountView the Source
Quaker Faith and Practice: The Book of Christian Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain
Britain Yearly Meeting, Britain Yearly MeetingQuaker faith and practice, introduction
Quote, Quaker faith and practice, introduction
To Quakers, the visible mark of being a 'church' is not conformity to a particular creed, or liturgical or sacramental practice, but the quality of communal life which reveals the extent of the community's willingness to seek and follow the Spirit's call to loving fellowship.
the holders' own accountView the Source
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
Church of England, 1571the holders' own accountView the Source
The Dordrecht Confession of Faith
Dutch Mennonite ministers assembled at Dordrecht, 1632View the Source
The Baptist Faith and Message
Southern Baptist Convention, 2000Article VII, Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Quote, Article VII, Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
View the Source
The Westminster Confession of Faith
Westminster Assembly, 1646the holders' own accountView the Source
The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church, The United Methodist Publishing Housethe holders' own accountView the Source
Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church
Isabel Florence Hapgood (compiler and translator), Houghton Mifflin, 1906View the Source
The Schleitheim Confession
Michael Sattler (attributed), 1527
The Egyptian or Coptic Church: A Detailed Description of Her Liturgical Services
O. H. E. KHS-Burmester, Societe d'Archeologie Copte, Cairo, 1967View the Source
The Augsburg Confession
Philipp Melanchthon, 1530History of the Christian Church, Vol. VII, sec. ii.ix.iii
Quote, History of the Christian Church, Vol. VII, sec. ii.ix.iii
who disallow the baptism of children, and affirm that children are saved without baptism
View the Source
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