<sod>Whether the earliest Christians practiced infant baptism, and thus whether modern Christians should do so, has remained a subject of debate among Christians<ref name="ODWR">{{Cite book|first= John |last= Bowker |authorlink = John Bowker (theologian) |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of World Religions|The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions]] | publisher =[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-19-866242-4 |oclc= 60181672 | page=125 }}</ref> at least since the earliest clear reference to the practice by Tertullian in the early third century.<ref name="Ferguson">{{Cite book|first= Everett |last= Ferguson |title=Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries| publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8028-2748-7 | page=362}}</ref><eod>
<sod>Whether the earliest Christians practiced infant baptism, and thus whether modern Christians should do so, has remained a subject of debate between liberal and conservative Christian scholars <ref name="ODWR">{{Cite book|first= John |last= Bowker |authorlink = John Bowker (theologian) |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of World Religions|The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions]] | publisher =[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-19-866242-4 |oclc= 60181672 | page=125 }}</ref> at least since the earliest clear reference to the practice by Tertullian in the early third century.Some claim that Biblical baptism can be interpreted and thus relative, others support the Biblical literal baptism as a public and personal testimony, without intermediaries, in the case of infants that cannot talk for themselves yet, being newborns.  <ref name="Ferguson">{{Cite book|first= Everett |last= Ferguson |title=Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries| publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8028-2748-7 | page=362}}</ref><eod>