Abstract: Martin Luther defended infant baptism in many of his early writings and designed the Order of Baptism Newly Revised (1526) to christen infants and young children. While infant baptism represented a continuation of ancient church practice, Lutherans soon developed unique ways of planning for baptisms and integrating godparents, or baptismal sponsors, into the ceremony. The reformers rejected some traditional aspects of godparent-hood, such as spiritual kinship prohibitions and gift-giving obligations, while accommodating others, such as using godparents to establish social and political relationships. This essay explores evolving godparent traditions using liturgy, municipal records, church orders, and popular advice books; as well as the lived experience of Luther and his colleagues, who regularly acted as baptismal sponsors. The process of finding common ground and negotiating social and spiritual practices gave Lutheran baptism its distinctive context in Reformation Germany, and shaped popular piety into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
