Faith, Fiction & Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates by Marcia L. Colish (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Faith, Fiction & Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates by Marcia L. Colish John M. Huels Faith, Fiction & Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates, by Marcia L. Colish. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2014. Pp. xi–370. This is a thorough, historical-theological study of the development of doctrine on three issues: baptism by desire, fictive baptism, and forced baptism. Although a Catholic consensus on these issues has been in place for centuries now, this was not the case in the Middle Ages. The author explores the vigorous and wide-ranging debates on these questions from patristic times up to the early fourteenth century and reveals a surprising diversity of opinions and arguments. A canonical undercurrent in the work, without being systematically developed, is the fundamental notion of sacramental intentionality. The celebration of baptism does not achieve its effects unless the minister intends to do what the Church does when it baptizes and the one baptized, who has the use of reason, intends to receive the sacrament. While the meaning of “baptism by desire” and “forced baptism” are readily grasped, “fictive baptism” is more complex, involving several issues addressed by theologians and canonists in different periods of history. The first to be discussed by patristic authors was whether a stage play or children’s play that included a baptism could be considered a valid baptism if the pagan actor or child actually intended to receive it. A second question was whether baptism performed by heretics and schismatics was fictive or valid. A third issue was the validity of the baptism of pagan leaders who had asked for the sacrament as a ploy to divert unsuspecting Christians before plundering and slaughtering them. Doubts also arose in the minds of some medieval authors concerning the validity of baptisms performed by clerics whose own ordination was suspect. The most widely debated [End Page 257] issue was whether the effects of baptism were realized when the adult being baptized lacked true faith, true charity, and/or contrition for sin. This is an excellent work of original historical research drawing on numerous and diverse primary sources. It has detailed footnotes, an ample bibliography, and an index of subjects and names. It likely will be of greatest interest to Church historians as well as historical and sacramental theologians. One hopes that it may inspire similar studies on related subjects. A topic of significant interest to canonists today is the extent to which heterodox beliefs about the Trinity and the doctrine of baptism can infect the internal will of the minister such that he/she is not able to intend to do what the Church does in baptizing. An in-depth study of this question could go a long way to explain the several declarations in recent decades by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the invalidity of baptism as practiced by various sects purporting to be Christian. John M. Huels Saint Paul University Faculty of Canon Law Ottawa, Ontario Copyright © 2014 Catholic University of America Press