1. The following summary is taken from O’Connor’s short story, “The River,” 157–74. O’Connor engages similar themes in a more extended format in her book, The Violent Bear It Away. Fredrick C. Bauerschmidt reflects briefly on O’Connor’s “The River” in the context of baptism in “Baptism in the Diaspora,” 16–61. In “The River” the child’s name and subsequent re-naming is given theological significance. Since I cannot explore this here, I simply avoid mentioning the child’s name at all.
2. O’Connor, “The River,” 163.
3. Ibid., 165.
4. Ibid., 166.
5. Ibid., 168.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., 173.
8. Ibid., 173–74.
9. This statement is also known as the “Schleitheim Brotherly Union.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, s.v. “Schleitheim Confession (Anabaptist, 1527).” http://www.gameo.org. Hereafter all references to this online encyclopedia will be abbreviated GAMEO.
10. GAMEO, s.v. “Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632).”
11. Leland D. Harder, GAMEO, s.v. “Age at Baptism.”
12. The reference is to the article cited above, but the data Harder is referring to here is from the 1973 study of the Brethren in Christ Church published as Kauffman and Harder, Four Centuries Later.
13. This is demonstrated by a study done by Donald Kraybill, Conrad Kanagy, and Ronald Burwell. These sociologists have published various aspects of their study in diverse venues; however, data related to baptism was shared with me in private correspondence, June–July, 2008. Some of the data from this survey was published by Kanagy in Road Signs for the Journey.
14. Garrett, “Baptists Concerning Baptism,” 65. Also see George, “Southern Baptists,” 47.
15. Haymes, “Baptism,” 125.
16. Nolt, History of the Amish, 87–88.
17. Hostetler, Amish Society, 77–78, 365–66.
18. Ibid.
19. 1001 Questions and Answers, 43–44. This text appears to be an anonymously redacted version of one written by Daniel Kauffman in 1907 entitled, 1000 Questions and Answers on Points of Christian Doctrine, which seems to have been later published by Mennonite Publishing House of Scottdale, PA in 1933. The “Thirty-Three Articles of Faith” is a reference to “The Confession of Faith” published in Winchester, Virginia in 1837. This was an English translation of the much older Belydenisse near Godts heylig woort, which appeared in the Hoorn Martyr Book (Historie der warachtighe getuygen) in 1617. It was published most influentially in the Martyr’s Mirror in 1660. The confession itself is believed to be an edited compilation of sentences from Menno Simons. For more information and an English translation, see GAMEO, s.v. “Confession of Faith (1617).”
20. Miller, Our Heritage, 148–69.
21. Hostetler, Amish Society, 79–81.
22. Kraybill reports that the Amish have a retention rate above 90 percent (Amish Culture, 186). Other sources describe a range between 65 and 95 percent, depending on the community.
23. MacIntyre, After Virtue, 263.
24. T. Schlabach, “Mennonites, Revivalism, Modernity,” 398–415.
25. Juhnke, “Review of Mennonite Tent Revivals, 484–85.
26. GAMEO, s.v. “Revivalism.”
27. Mennonite General Conference, “Nurture and Evangelism of Children.”
28. Miller, “Mennonites,” 23.
29. Rom 6:3–4.
30. Mark 8:34–35.
31. Matt 19:14.
32. Matt 28:19–20.
33. Augustine, Confessions, 10. Though the Wills translation is not an academic one, I appreciate the candor with which he renders Augustine’s reflections.
34. This document can be found under the “Beliefs” heading on the Assemblies of God website, http://www.ag.org/top/Beliefs/gendoct_11_accountability.cfm.
35. Similar passages include 1 Sam 3:7; Jer 1:4–7; and Luke 2:52.
36. Finger, Contemporary Anabaptist Theology, 131.
37. Jeschke, Believers Baptism for Children, 103–24.
38. As quoted in Wood, Flannery, 23.
39. Snyder, Following in the Footsteps, 109–10.
40.
