ABSTRACT
This project came into being as a result of the editors’ own discussions about a very particular aspect of community definition in the Reformation: the role of baptism in marking community membership. We each began our careers with major projects on the sacrament of infant baptism, examining the rituals and traditions surrounding the rite and the social and political
significance of those practices.2 In comparing our work, we talked about the ways that infant baptism and the practices attached to it were used variously to define Lutheran and Reformed communities, to challenge the reformers’ notions of community, and to reinforce longstanding ties of community that reached beyond strictly religious definitions. In discussing our own findings about the way that a single ritual could both reinforce and contest official definitions of community, it became clear to us that while many scholars in our field were exploring issues of early modern community definition and construction, there was no single volume that brought together work on the broad topic of the definition of community across Central and Western Europe.
