An Anthropological and Theological History of Infant Baptism from Antiquity to the Great Schism and Beyond

By Cliff Potts, WPS News

Baptism didn’t begin with Christianity, and the Catholic tradition of baptizing infants didn’t appear out of thin air. The practice has roots that stretch deep into ancient ritual purity systems, Second Temple Judaism, early Christian identity formation, and centuries of theological evolution. To understand infant baptism — accepted in both Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism — we have to go back before the Church even existed, before the Gospels were written, and long before the East–West Schism of 1054.

I. Anthropological & Archaeological Origins: Water, Cleansing, and Identity

Across ancient cultures, ritual washing was a universal symbolic act. Archaeologists have found purification installations — from Mesopotamian “abzu” basins to Greek lustral bowls — indicating a widespread belief that water mediated transitions between the profane and the sacred (Eliade, 1958). In ancient Israel, mikva’ot (ritual immersion pools) have been discovered throughout Judea, including near the Temple Mount and at Qumran, showing Jews immersed themselves for purification, conversion, or preparation for sacred acts (Magness, 2002).

This world is where Christianity was born. John the Baptist’s ritual immersion movement didn’t come from nowhere — it grew directly out of the mikveh tradition. His innovation was tying immersion to repentance in preparation for the messianic age (Taylor, 1997). Early Christians then reframed baptism as participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 6:3–4), giving the act a new symbolic weight.

II. Early Christian Baptism: Adults, Converts, and Whole Households

The earliest Christians overwhelmingly baptized adults. This is clear from the Didache (1st century) and early patristic writings. Baptism required moral preparation, catechesis, and renunciation of prior religious commitments (Ferguson, 2009).

But there is evidence — controversial but real — that infants were baptized earlier than many assume:

• Several New Testament passages refer to entire households being baptized (Acts 16:15; 1 Cor. 1:16).
• Origen claims the Church “received the tradition from the apostles” to baptize infants (Origen, Commentary on Romans, c. 248 CE).
• By the 3rd century, both Cyprian and Hippolytus explicitly mention infant baptism as normal in many communities (Dunn, 2007).

This didn’t emerge from sentimentality — it came from the early Christian understanding of original sin (Augustine would later formalize this) and the belief that baptism sealed a person into Christ’s covenantal community.

III. Why Infant Baptism Emerged: Theology Meets Demographics

Several factors pushed the Church toward universal infant baptism:

1. High infant mortality: Parents feared dying unbaptized meant exclusion from salvation (Augustine, On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, 412 CE).
2. Communal identity: Baptism became the entrance ritual into Christian life, not just repentance.
3. Shift from persecuted minority to social majority: As Christianity grew after Constantine, baptism normalized from a risky adult commitment to a universal childhood rite.

By the 5th century, infant baptism was standard practice in both the Eastern and Western Church.

IV. The Great Schism (1054): Two Traditions, One Sacrament

After the East–West Schism, both churches kept infant baptism, but their theological emphases diverged.

Eastern Orthodoxy

• Baptism, Chrismation (confirmation), and Eucharist are given together in infancy.
• The emphasis is theosis — participation in divine life — rather than guilt from original sin (Ware, 1993).
• Immersion is preferred, often threefold.

Roman Catholicism

• Baptism cleanses original sin and incorporates the infant into the Church.
• Confirmation and first communion occur later.
• Pouring becomes common after the medieval period.

Both branches, despite major theological differences, view baptism as valid, apostolic, and salvific.

V. The Reformation and Beyond: Fragmentation and Reinvention

After the 16th century, views on baptism splintered:

Catholic and Orthodox Churches

• Maintained infant baptism as sacramental and necessary.

Lutherans & Anglicans

• Kept infant baptism but reinterpreted some theological aspects.

Reformed (Calvinist) Traditions

• Justified infant baptism as entering the covenant community, analogous to circumcision.

Anabaptists & Later Evangelicals

• Rejected infant baptism entirely, insisting on adult “believer’s baptism.”
• This became the dominant view among Baptists, Pentecostals, and many modern evangelicals (Estep, 1996).

Today, Christianity is split nearly down the middle between infant-baptizing and believer-baptizing traditions — a 2,000-year echo of its anthropological, archaeological, and theological roots.

VI. Why This History Matters Today

Understanding the origin and evolution of baptism is more than academic. It reminds us that:

• Christianity has never been monolithic.
• Rituals evolve with culture, demography, and theological struggle.
• What people assume is “ancient and eternal” is often surprisingly young or surprisingly hybrid.

Infant baptism stands today as a symbol of the Church’s long human journey — shaped by fear, love, identity, philosophy, empire, theology, and survival.

And as the ancient world reminds us, water has always been a powerful thing. Even before priests touched it.

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References (APA 7th Edition)

Eliade, M. (1958). Patterns in comparative religion. Sheed & Ward.

Estep, W. R. (1996). The Anabaptist story: An introduction to sixteenth-century Anabaptism. Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Ferguson, E. (2009). Baptism in the early church: History, theology, and liturgy in the first five centuries. Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Magness, J. (2002). The archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Origen. (c. 248). Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.

Taylor, J. E. (1997). The immersionists: John the Baptist and his milieu. In Studia Antiqua.

Ware, K. (1993). The Orthodox Church (new ed.). Penguin Books.