Karl Barth on Baptism

I was surprised to find out yesterday that the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, in spite of his participation in the Reformed Church tradition rejected paedobaptism.  Here’s one interesting quote:

Baptism without the willingness and readiness of the baptized is true, effectual and effective baptism, but it is not correct; it is not done in obedience, it is not administered according to proper order, and therefore it is necessarily clouded baptism. It must and ought not to be repeated. It is, however, a wound in the body of the Church and a weakness for the baptized, which can certainly be cured but which are so dangerous that another question presents itself to the Church: how long is she prepared to be guilty of the occasioning of this wounding and weakening through a baptismal practice which is, from this standpoint, arbitrary and despotic?

We have in mind here the custom of the baptism of children, or more exactly thebaptismus infantium . . .

Perhaps the chasm between the Reformed folks and us credobaptists is not as wide as we sometimes make it out to be.  But as I am on an intellectual quest to track the practice of paedobaptism and credobaptism through the theological greats, this discovery is quite intriguing.

So, I figure as my research continues you can count on some of the mind-blowing quotes in favour of credobaptism I’ve discovered already, some from very unlikely sources.