Confirmation

 

Rev. Mark Surburg - The Rite of Confirmation: Teaching Lutherans to be Lutherans for Life?

Three theses

1. Confirmation has emphasized the subjective appropriation of faith.

2. It has taught the non-sacramental life to those who usually have to wait until 8th grade to receive the Sacrament of the Altar

3. It is a terminal event, heavily weighted with cultural importance, that marks the end of catachesis, and teaches youth that they are done learning about the faith.

Watch the whole thing ... includes the origin modern confirmation rite as Melanchthonian, not Lutheran (let the reader understand).... Erasmian influence and thus humanist in nature... the rare proof of Chemnitz' fallibility (!) ... Spener's endorsement as a "renewal of the baptismal covenant"...  Rationalism's replacement of baptism with confirmation... functional Arminianism...