Outline of Infant Baptism Reconsidered1
- Introduction (365-366)
- Notes for a History of the Question (366-389)
- On the History of Baptism (367-372)
- On the History of Baptismal Theology (372-386)
- The New Testament and the Subapostolic Church (372)
- Tertullian (372-373)
- Augustine (373-375)
- The High Middle Ages: The Elevent to the Thirteenth Centuries (375-376)
- The Sixteenth-Century Reformation (376-378)
- The Twentieth Century (378-380)
- Infant Baptism in the Shadow of the RCIA (380)
- The Faith of the Candidate (380-381)
- The Ecclesiological Factor (381-382)
- New Understanding of Sacramentality (382-384)
- The Meaning of Baptism (384-386)
- Conclusion (386-389)
- A New Approach to Infant Initiation (389-409)
- The Family as Church (390-394)
- a. The family has to exercise its prophetic function by discerning the will of God expressed in the conception, gestation, and birth of each child in their unique circumstances. (391)
- b. The family exercises its priestly function in thanksiving, intercession, and domestic rituals. (391)
- c. The family is quasi-re-constituted in the liturgical assembly by the baptism of a child and thus the Church is built up. (391-392)
- d. In the context of the family-as-Church, the cleansing of original sin means the family's intentional rebirth to its vocation as a sacrament to the world. (392-394)
- The Child as Subject of Sacramental Initiation (394-396)
- Faith and the Sacrament of Faith (396-400)
- Integration into the Church (400-401)
- Theology of Baptism (401-404)
- Infant Baptism as a Sacrament for the Church (405-409)
- Conclusion (409)
1
Searle, Mark. "Infant Baptism Reconsidered." Alternative Futures for Worship, vol. 2, Baptism and Confirmation (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1987) 15-54; reprinted in Maxwell Johnson, ed., Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on Christian Initiation, 365-409. Page references correspond to Living Water, Sealing Spirit.