Luther on infant Baptism: «On Rebaptism» (1528) and «Large Catechism» (1529)

Charles Lloyd CortrightPhD in Theology, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (St. Louis, MO 63166-6861, P.O. Box 66861)
charles.cortright@lcms.org

Cortright Ch. L. Luther on infant Baptism: «On Rebaptism» (1528) and «Large Catechism» (1529), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2018, vol. 7, pp. 68–90.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2018-00004

Language: English

Martin Luther’s two primary writings concerning the baptism of infants — «On Rebaptism» (1528) and the Excursus on Infant Baptism contained in «Large Catechism» (1529) — are presented and reviewed in this article. In the 1528 tractate written in response to a letter asking for assistance in answering the Anabaptist rejection of infant baptism, Luther lays out the evangelical defense of «one baptism» for all — young, old, male, female, etc. — from Scripture and history. Luther’s defense remains a primary answer to the same questions today. Likewise, the Excursus in «Large Catechism» is developed by Luther in this same time period and is a confessional statement for the Lutheran Church concerning the sacrament of Holy Baptism and its blessings for all the baptized.

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Key words: sacraments, Augustine, faith, John Chrysostom, Anabaptists

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/cortright-2018-en/

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