No exceptions

Baptism beyond inclusion

Abstract

In this essay I ask if many well-intentioned efforts at inclusion of those with intellectual disability founder, particularly regarding those labelled as profoundly intellectually disabled. I focus on the Anabaptist-Mennonite practice of believer’s baptism, which demands capacities that may exclude persons from that core ecclesial practice. There are ecclesial attempts to respond to this challenge, but I claim them as insufficient and argue that churches need to go further in their theology and practice to be truly hospitable.