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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009
This article sets out to provide a context for contemporary discussions about baptism and Eucharist — specifically, the practice of offering communion to those who have not been baptized — and will examine the baptismal theology of the early church and compare this with the thinking of contemporary reformers. I will review scriptural evidence, Patristic thought, and some contemporary scholarship, demonstrating no evidence to support a claim of returning to the authentic roots of the tradition. Rather than condemn or condone the practice of communicating the unbaptized, I recommend that we study it more carefully — lest the church miss a significant opportunity for evangelism. Yet caveat lector: this practice remains an exception — not the norm.
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