ABSTRACT
Calvin’s description highlights the major points of contention in sixteenth-century debates over infant baptism: Were rites such as exorcism essential or merely dazzling? Should the wider community bear witness to the event, or only those closely connected to the child? Was this ceremony an opportunity for education, or was that negated by the fact that the child being baptised did not understand what was happening? And finally, was this a moment when the child was presented to the assembled witnesses and to God for recognition as a new member of the Christian community, or was it the moment when the child was freed of demonic ties and physically cleansed of sin? Or was it both? Calvin’s statement suggests some of his answers to the puzzles, but what of broader sixteenth-century views of baptism?
