Kind en avondmaal. Een alternatieve lezing van Calvijn

Abstract

Most orthodox congregations in the PCN admit those who have publicly confessed their faith to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Because the average age at which such confessions of faith are made is eighteen, the Lord’s Supper is an occasion exclusively for adults. This article questions this practice based on John Calvin’s views on covenant, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. By carefully reading Calvin’s views of infant baptism, especially the infants’ belonging to the community of the covenant, by evaluating his exegesis of 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, and Calvin’s view of the Lord’s Supper, and looking at the theory of embodiment and liturgical play as developed by Lydia van Leersum-Bekebrede, this article argues for allowing children to publicly confess their faith and participate in the Lord’s Supper.