Inscriptions Show Little Evidence about the Age at which Baptism Was Administered

Tuesday Scholarly Notes
11/12/24

Aland, Kurt. (1961). "Chapter Six: The Evidence of Christian Inscriptions." In Did the Early Church Baptize Infants? (Translated by G. R. Beasley-Murray). (pages 75-79). Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock. (Personal Library)

    Aland contends that while Jeremias cites inscriptions as a source of information for infant baptism, they do not date prior to the third century, at which time we know infant baptism was attested (Aland 1961, p. 75). Even the inscriptions cited by Jeremias are not completely clear about the age at which people were baptized. Aland suggests that Jeremias' point of view considers infant baptism "obligatory for children of Christian parents in the third century, as in the second" (Aland 1961, p. 77). Aland provides the texts of a number of tomb inscriptions. He questions whether, as Jeremias contends, the children of pagans had been baptized in emergencies by Christians. However, a review of the actual wording of the inscriptions does not bear this view out (Aland 1961, p. 78).

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