Faith, Fiction and Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates
by marcia colish
cua, 384 pages, $69.95
B
aptism seems so simple: water and the formula “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” But like so many religious practices, it can be celebrated in different ways, with divergent meanings, and with conflicting motivations. In the mission field, some are drawn to baptism for access to the medical, educational, or economic benefits offered by membership in a Christian community. Today such people are called “rice Christians,” but in earlier centuries the term was “fictive” baptism, i.e., submitting to the ritual of baptism without moral or spiritual conversion.
The validity of fictive baptism was debated extensively by theologians and canonists. One of the earliest instances is a story about a group of boys “playing church” on the beach near Alexandria. The bishop, Alexander, saw them from a distance and was astonished that they went through the ritual of baptizing one of the group. The boy who performed the baptism was Athanasius, the future bishop of Alexandria and great defender of the creed of Nicaea. After asking the boys some questions, Bishop Alexander learned that water had been poured on the “catechumen” and the proper questions had been asked and answered. After consulting with his clergy, Alexander ruled that it had been a valid baptism and need not be repeated. For centuries, this tale was the basis for discussions of “fictive” baptism.
