Baptism

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. As a conveyor of God’s grace, baptism holds a significant role within Christianity and has been regarded as a sacrament by essentially every Christian tradition throughout history as a result. This reality is striking in light of Christian history, which has consistently demonstrated that contention and debate often surrounds central Church doctrine rather than unified agreement, the latter of which is far more challenging to obtain. Even though baptism is upheld as tantamount to the Christian faith and tradition, a variety of primary sources from the Reformation Era indicate that the role and specified definition of baptism varied substantially amongst Roman Catholicism and the various Christian sects that developed there from. In fact, some Christian traditions, like the Anabaptist, separated from the mainstream Church with baptism occupying the central position of the dispute. This work will examine baptism from the perspectives of Roman Catholicism, as well as Magisterial Reform and Protestant traditions ranging from Lutheran, Calvinist, and Methodist to the Radical Reformation with the Anabaptist movement, while considering the differentiation between infant and adult baptism in the process. It will also consider the impact and implications of these ancient positions on 21st century ministry amongst pastors and congregants alike within both individual church bodies and the Church collective while examining the sustaining relevancy of baptism, which remains a central component of the life of the Church today