Within Christianity, a godparent or sponsor is someone who bears witness to a child's baptism (christening) and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. In both religious and civil views, a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development, and to offer mentorship.S. Ringen, What democracy is for: on freedom and moral government (Princeton University Press, 2007), p. 96. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild (i.e., godson for boys and goddaughter for girls).
Christianity
Origins and history
As early as the 2nd century AD, infant baptism had begun to gain acceptance among Christians for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants.J. H. Lynch, Godparents and Kinship in Early Medieval Europe (Princeton, NJ, 1980), p. 114.
Normally, these sponsors were the birth parents of a child, as emphasized in 408 by St. Augustine who suggested that the sponsors could be other individuals in exceptional circumstances.W. Parsons, ed., Saint Augustine, Letters, The Fathers of the Church, 18 (New York, 1953), pp. 134-5. Within a century, the Corpus Juris Civilis indicates that parents had been replaced in this role almost completely by those who were not the child's birth parents.P. Kruger, ed., Corpus Iuris Civis, vol. 3, Codex Iustinianus (Dublin and Zurich, 1970), v, 4, 26, p. 197. This was clarified in 813 when the Synod of Mainz prohibited natural parents from acting as godparents to their own children.
By the 5th century, male sponsors were referred to as "spiritual fathers", and by the end of the 6th century, they were being referred to as "compaters" and "commaters", suggesting that these were being seen as spiritual co-parents.S. W. Mintz and E. R. Wolf, 'An analysis of ritual co-parenthood', Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 6 (1950), p. 344.
Around the same time, laws intended to prevent marriage between family members were extended to include marriage between godparents and godchildren. A decree of Justinian, dated to 530, outlawed marriage between a godfather and his goddaughter, and these barriers continued to multiply until the 11th century, forbidding marriage between natural and spiritual parents, or those directly related to them.C. E. Smith, Papal Enforcement of Some Medieval Marriage Laws (Port Washington, WI, and London, 1940), p. 48. As confirmation emerged as a separate rite from baptism from the 8th century, a second set of sponsors, with similar prohibitions, also emerged.P. Cramer, Baptism and Change in the Early Middle Ages c. 200 – c. 1150, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th series, 20 (Cambridge, 1993), p. 179. The exact extent of these spiritual relationships as a bar to marriage in Catholicism was unclear until the Council of Trent, which limited it to relationships between the godparents, the child, and the parents.N. P. Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1, (London and Georgetown Washington DC, 1990), p. 757.
According to historian John Bossy, by the Middle Ages it was "a means of transcending natural kinship alliances and creating wider relationships of protection, support and friendship in a feuding society: the sacrament of baptism established a network of relationship which disarmed hostility and brought unity and peace."
During the Reformation Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin preserved infant baptism (and the accompanying baptismal sponsors) in their respective Protestant denominations despite opposition from more radical reformers such as Anabaptists.J. D. C. Fisher, ed., Christian Initiation: the Reformation Period, Alcuin Collections, 51 (London, 1970), p. 171. Their respective visions of the role played by godparents differed from mainstream Catholicism. Luther was opposed to the prohibition of marriage between god-parents and -children, Zwingli placed more emphasis on the role played by the parents and pastors, and Calvin preferred the birth parents serving as sponsors.H. T. Lehmann and J. Pelikan, eds, Luther Works, 45 St Louis MO and Philadelphia, PA (1958-67), p. 24; W. P. Stephens, The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli (Oxford, 1986), p. 194. Among French Calvinists and the residents of Geneva, it became the norm to have one godparent; other Calvinists, most notably in Scotland and the English colonies in America, did away with them entirely.W. Coster, Baptism and Spiritual Kinship in Early Modern England (Ashgate, 2002), pp. 84-5.
The customary obligation of godfathers for Catholics (at least in Scotland) was stated in Nicol Burne's Of the praying in Latine (1581) in relation to Latin public prayers in church: ...if any man pray in any other tongue (i.e. than his own), it is also expedient that he understand the meaning of the words at the least. For the which cause in the catholic church the parents or godfathers are obliged to learn them (i.e. to make sure they have learned) whom they held in baptism the forms of prayers and belief, and instruct them sufficiently therein, so that they understand the same: "Albeit the principal thing which God requires is the heart, that suppose he who prays understand not perfectly the words which he speaks, yet God who looks in the heart, will not let his prayer be in vain." Anglicized spelling of Middle Scots original.
Numbers of sponsors
In the early church, one sponsor seems to have been the norm, but in the early Middle Ages, there seems to have been two, one of each sex, and this practice has been largely maintained in Orthodox Christianity.S. Gudeman, 'The compadrazgo as a reflection of the natural and spiritual person', Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1971), p. 48. In 888, the Catholic Council of Metz attempted to limit the number to one, but this limit seems not to have been observed.J. Goody, The Development of Family and Marriage in Europe (Cambridge, 1983), p. 199. In early 14th-century Spain, as many as 20 godparents were being chosen for a single child.G. M. Foster, 'Confradia and compadrazgo in Spain and Spanish America', Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 9 (1953), p. 3. In England, the Synod of Worcester (1240) stipulated three sponsors (two of the same sex and one of the opposite), and this has remained the norm in the Church of England.J. D. C. Fisher, ed., Christian Initiation: Baptism in the Medieval West. A Study in the Disintegration of the Primitive Rite of Initiation, Alcuin Collections, 47 (London, 1965), p. 157. The Council of Trent attempted to limit the numbers of godparents to one or two, but practice has differed across the Catholic world.N. P. Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1, (London and Georgetown Washington DC, 1990), p. 747.
Modern practices
Anglican Communion The Church of England, the mother Church of the Anglican Communion, retained godparents in baptism, formally removing the marriage barriers in 1540, but the issue of the role and status of godparents continued to be debated in the English Church.W. Coster, Baptism and Spiritual Kinship in Early Modern England (Ashgate, 2002), p. 87. They were abolished in 1644 by the Directory of Public Worship promulgated by the English Civil War Parliamentary regime, but continued to be used in some parishes in the north of England.C. Durston, 'Puritan rule and the failure of cultural revolution', in C. Durston and J. Eales, eds, The Culture of English Puritanism (London, 1986), p. 227. After the Restoration in 1660, they were reintroduced to Anglicanism, with occasional objections, but dropped by almost every dissenting church.H. Davis, Worship and Theology in England, from Andrews to Baxter and Fox 1603-1690 (Princeton, NJ, 1975) p. 384. There is some evidence that the restored institution had lost some of its social importance as well as its universality.W. Coster, Baptism and Spiritual Kinship in Early Modern England (Ashgate, 2002), pp. 269-273.
At present, in the Church of England, relatives can stand as godparents, and although it is not clear that parents can be godparents, they sometimes are. Godparents should be both baptised and confirmed (although it is not clear in which Church), but the requirement for confirmation can be waived. There is no requirement for clergy to baptise those from outside their parishes, and baptism can be reasonably delayed so that the conditions, including suitable godparents, can be met. As a result, individual clergy have considerable discretion over the qualifications of godparents.The Canons of the Church of England, 6th edn (London, 2000). Many "contemporary Anglican rites likewise require parents and godparents to respond on behalf of infant [baptismal] candidates."
Lutheran churches Lutherans follow a similar theology of godparents as Catholics. They believe that godparents "help [children] with their Christian upbringing, especially if they should lose their parents".Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation (Concordia Publishing House, 1991 edition). Retrieved 2010-16-05. Lutherans, like Catholics, believe that a godparent must be both a baptized and confirmed Christian. Some Lutherans also follow the Catholic tradition that a Christian who is not affiliated with the Lutheran denomination may serve as a witness rather than a godparent.Godparents at LCMS.org. Retrieved 2010-16-05.
Methodist Church The Book of Discipline stipulates that it is the duty of a godparent, also known as a sponsor, "to provide training for the children of the Church throughout their childhood that will lead to a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to an understanding of the Christian faith, and to an appreciation of the privileges and obligations of baptism and membership (¶ 225.4)." John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, wrote a homily titled "Serious Thoughts Concerning Godfathers and Godmothers" in which he stated that godparents are "spiritual parents to the baptized, whether they were infants or [adults]; and were expected to supply whatever spiritual helps were wanting either through the death or neglect of the natural parents." He described the role of godparents, instructing that they should call upon their godchild "to hear sermons, and shall provide that he(/she) may learn the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health; and that this child be virtuously brought up, to lead a godly and a Christian life." As such, the Book of Worship states that godparents/sponsors should be "selected carefully" and "should be members of Christ's holy Church; and it is the duty of pastors to instruct them concerning the significance of Holy Baptism, their responsibilities for the Christian training of the baptized child, and how these obligations may be fulfilled."
Orthodox Church
The Orthodox institution of godparenthood has been the least affected of the major traditions by change. In some Orthodox churches (Serbian, Greek) usually the best man (kum, кум, koumbaros) or bridesmaid (kuma, кума, koumbara) at a couple's wedding act as a godparent to the first or all children of the marriage. In some instances, the godfather is responsible for naming the child. A godparent to a child will then act as a sponsor at the child's wedding.J. K. Campbell, Honour, family and Patronage, a Study of the Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community (Oxford, 1964). Godparents are expected to be in good standing in the Orthodox church, including its rulings on divorce, and aware of the meaning and responsibilities of their role.Instructions for Weddings, Divorces, Baptisms, Funerals, and Memorials .
Reformed Churches