Showing papers on "Baptism published in 1998"

“Now by My Hood, a Gentle and No Jew”: Jessica, The Merchant of Venice, and the Discourse of Early Modern English Identity

Abstract: Recent readings of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, which have been concerned primarily with the play's representation of difference, especially that of gender, religion, or race, often leave Jessica out of their analyses. Yet Jessica, as both a Jew and a willing Christian convert, enables the play to resolve the problem posed by the equations of white Christianity and national identity in the emerging discourse of English imperialism: how to render the Jew's difference as a difference of nature and as a difference of faith involving the act of will implicit in Christian baptism? Only by taking Shylock's measure in the light of the gender, racial, and religious ideologies that integrate his daughter into Venetian society can we account for the play's early modern representations of racialized Jews and of the Christians who imagined them.

Faith and Belief: The Difference Between Them

Abstract: The Buddhist instance - faith as atheist? the Islamic instance - faith as theocentric a Hindu contribution - Sraddha "Credo" and the Roman Catholic church - baptism, St. Thomas Aquinas, Vatican I, the 20th century, Varia the English word "believe" conclusion - faith as generically human, belief and understanding, the intellectual dimension of faith.

Religious experience in earliest Christianity : a missing dimension in New Testament studies

Abstract: In three fascinating probes of early Christianity - examining baptism, speaking in tongues, and meals in common - Johnson illustrates how a more wholistic approach opens up the world of healings and religious power, of ecstasy and spire - in short, the religious experience of real persons. Early Christian texts, he finds, reflect lives caught up in and defined by a power not in their control but engendered instead by the crucified and raised Messiah Jesus.

Creative Writing: The [Self-] Identification of Mendelssohn as Jew

Abstract: In the early nineteenth century, a process began that transformed the Jews living in German-speaking lands into (at least in their own minds) Jewish Germans-a result of increasing acculturation, emancipation, and the continuing secularization of their Christian countrymen. Over time, enlightened rationalists also began to share this perception and to define Jewish "otherness" as a difference in religion (as opposed to culture) alone and accept Jews into their social circles. But despite this shift in perception, as well as other Jewish attempts to assimilate into their environment through superficial changes in clothing, speech,1 and gesture, the general populace-and indeed the law itself-continued to see them as adherents to what Kant called a "useless, true-religion-displacing old cult"2 and refused to grant them any more than partial entry into German society.3 This led many Jews who had given up the ritual law (either under the influence of rationalism or because they wished to better assimilate) and were therefore Jews in name only to separate themselves from Judaism altogether and to accept what poet Heinrich Heine called the "admission-ticket to European culture"-baptism.4 But far from being a simple bill of admittance, baptism was a virtual Pandora's box filled with paradoxes and contradictions, the most devastating of which was the continued distrust Jews faced from the non-Jews who had originally called for their conversion. From early childhood onward, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy had to contend with the fact that, despite his baptism, the public display of his Christian faith through his sacred music, and claims (reflected in his private correspondence) of German pride and of discipleship to the Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher,5 many continued to see him as Jewish both in religion and in culture, or, at the very least, as having a strong personal connection to his Jewish heritage. Such suspicions were common with respect to the so-called Neuchristen,6 many of whom had, admittedly, converted for purely pragmatic reasons. These assessments

The early church in its context : essays in honor of Everett Ferguson

Abstract: What gnostics knew, H.W. Attridge Attitudes towards foreigners in two Maccabees, Eupolemus, Esther, Aristeas, and Luke-Acts, D.L. Balch En-spirited waters: baptism in the "Confessions" of Augustine", P. Bright Cyprian's eschatology: explaining divine purpose, J. Patout Burns The reading of the personal letter as the background for the reading of the Scriptures in the early Church, C.E. Cox The Papias fragments on Mark and Matthew and their relationship to Luke's prologue: an essay on the pre-history of the synoptic problem, D. Farkasfalvy Further reflections on the fourfold Gospel Canon, W.R. Farmer A late-antique tunic fragment in St. Louis, P.C. Finney Eusebius and "The little Labyrinth", J.T. Fitzgerald Lions in early Christian literature, R.M. Grant Cicero's sketch and Lactantius's plan, R.A. Greer Incense offering in the Syriac "Transitus Mariae": ritual and knowledge in ancient Christianity, S.A. Harvey "Pseudo-Orpheus": tracking a tradition, C.R. Holladay The Athanasian understanding of Scripture, C. Kannengiesser Conversion to Paul's Gospel, A.J. Malherbe The Chreia in the desert: rhetoric and the Bible in the "Apophthegmata Patrum", K. McVey Encyclopedia revisited, F.W. Norris Fourth- and fifth-century homilists on the Ascension of Christ, H.F. Stander A cult from Philadelphia: Oikos religion or cultic association? S.K. Stowers The appropriate, the necessary and the impossible: faith and reason in Hebrews, J.W. Thompson The public priestesses of Pompeii, R.B. Ward.

John the Baptist in Life and Death: Audience-Oriented Criticism of Matthew's Narrative

Abstract: John the Baptist in Life and Death: Audience-Oriented Criticism of Matthew's Narrative, by Gary Yamasaki. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998. Pp. 176. 35.00/ $57.50. In this book, Yamasaki reexamines John the Baptist and introduces audience-- oriented criticism, a revision of reader-response criticism. After an abbreviated overview of two centuries of research on John the Baptist, Yamasaki turns to the issue of methodology, examining reader-response criticism, the foundation of his own methodology. Here Yamasaki discovers that some analysts still privilege a supposed inherent meaning in the text (perhaps generated by prior interpretations) over that generated by reading. He says this is because modern and ancient peoples encounter a text differently. While readers today have constant access to a written text, ancient peoples had limited contact with a text-often only via the spoken word. Yamasaki refers to these encounters as "static" and "dynamic," respectively. Audienceoriented criticism is, he argues, a way of recovering the dynamic, first-time encounter between ancient people and their texts. This method, he says, shows how the encounter of text and listener "naturally" (re)generates a basic structure formed by the text's words, and how, upon this scaffold of words and their meanings, listening creates the full meaning of the story. Following a brief critique of various theories accounting for the structure of Matthew's Gospel, Yamasaki applies his method to Matthew's story of the Baptist. First, he shows how the birth narrative "primed" the listener for the importance of Jesus. Then, after discussing John as the listener first "sees" him, Yamasaki shows how the baptism scene presents the encounter between Jesus and John and introduces the narrator's ideology. Yamasaki further examines Jesus and the narrator's ideology, through John, even though John is "off stage," in prison. The last chapter concludes this work, reiterating the relationship of John, Jesus, and the narrator's ideology, even though John is now dead. The nice thing Yamasaki's method does is to take exegesis back to basics, to what the words mean and how these meanings are (re)generated in the act of reading, According to Yamasaki, references to John throughout the Gospel form the kernel of a message-containing the narrator's ideology of Jesus-which is "fleshed out" by the audience. In this way, audience-oriented criticism could be a new tool in the scholar's kit-interdisciplinary, it could recover meanings otherwise missed by other methods and stitch them into our collective understanding of the formative era of Christianity. Unfortunately, Yamasaki has forgotten one step: although this work attempts to bypass the ideology inherent in scholarship to discover the original meaning of the text, it also fails to take that scholarship into account. This is especially glaring in the case of the relationship between Yamasaki's audience-oriented criticism and reader response, the very method from which he derived it. …

The Tongues of Pentecost: A Pentecostal Perspective on the Promise and Challenge of Pentecostal/Roman Catholic Dialogue

Abstract: The international Pentecostal/Roman Catholic dialogue began in 1972 between the former Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity and the Pentecostals. David du Plessis was the organizer of the dialogue from the Pentecostal side. The role of du Piessis was quite amazing, since he had already been disfellowshipped from the Assemblies of God prior to his involvement in the dialogue with Roman Catholics. In fact, the dialogue did not involve any official representation by the Pentecostal churches, but merely "David du Plessis and friends." As Peter Hocken noted, it was the perspicacity of the then Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity that recognized in du Plessis a prophetic figure representative of Pentecostalism in spirit and did not, therefore, merely dismiss him as a maverick.(1) The documents and articles that have emerged from the three quinquennia of dialogue since 1972 reveal some understanding between Pentecostals and Roman Catholics of possible convergences and divergences on several issues, such as scripture, worship, and koinonia.(2) Despite the dialogue, Pentecostals who participate must still do so in the shadow of misunderstandings and criticisms from Pentecostal leadership and laity. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., has described the barriers that Pentecostals have sought to erect in order to block the way to ecumenical discussion with Roman Catholics.(3) Now that a North American series of ecumenical meetings between Pentecostals and Roman Catholics has begun as a complement to the ongoing international dialogue, a Pentecostal theological reflection on the future promise and challenge of such ecumenical encounters seems more important than ever before. At the base of this reflection is the question of the theological issues at stake for Pentecostals in continuing and cultivating the dialogue with Roman Catholics. What is it about our piety and theology that compels us ahead in a dialogue that is so sharply criticized by the leadership of our Pentecostal churches? What promise and challenge might such a dialogue pose for Roman Catholics? A Vision for Pentecostal Ecumenism in the Tongues of Pentecost It is quite natural for a Pentecostal to begin a discussion of the promise and challenge of Pentecostal/Roman Catholic dialogue with the "tongues of Pentecost." After all, the Pentecostal movement is noted for its accent on what Hendrikus Berkhof termed the neglected "third element" beyond the duplex gratia of justification and sanctification: empowerment for witness in the world, such as we have featured in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost. The baptism in the Holy Spirit as a post-conversion empowerment for gifted service, especially as evidenced by speaking in tongues, was at least the most controversial and, therefore, outstanding distinctive of classical Pentecostalism at the beginning of the movement. The prodigium (astounding sign) of the Spirit's empowerment in tongues worship featured in Acts 2 and the credibility it gained from the sanctified lives of those who bore witness to Christ have been honored by most Pentecostals as valuable distinctives. More recently, however, scholars of Pentecostalism, such as Donald Dayton, have shifted the popular focus on tongues as the distinctive of Pentecostalism to an overall Gestalt of spirituality that strives for a holistic or "full" gospel. For Pentecostals, this gospel includes conversion, Spirit baptism, bodily healing, and an eschatological expectation for the imminent return of Christ. This more holistic doctrinal approach to defining Pentecostalism is important for understanding the diverse theological roots of the Pentecostal movement in the Holiness movement of the nineteenth century.(4) Walter Hollenweger, however, believes that this ideengeschichtliche (idea-historical) approach is not adequate by itself. Fundamental for Hollenweger is the realgeschichtliche understanding of Pentecostalism, which focuses on the actual spirituality of the movement. …

Marks of the Body of Christ

Abstract: Martin Luther once listed seven "marks" of the church-those defining ecclesial features that show where the true church is to be found. This insightful volume brings together essays by ten leading Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Orthodox theologians, each analyzing one of the seven traditional marks of the church and discussing how it is found, or not found, in today's churches. Writing about each "mark" of the church are these scholars: Gerhard O. Forde and Richard Lischer on proclamation; Susan K. Wood and John H. Erickson on baptism; K. Paul Wesche and Richard A. Norris Jr. on the eucharist; David S. Yeago on the office of the Keys; Carl E. Braaten on ordination; Robert W. Jenson on catechesis; and William J. Abraham on discipleship. The picture of contemporary church life that is developed by these authors is grim, but their analyses and practical suggestions are both constructive and necessary.

The origins of Christianity : an exploration

Abstract: Christianity possesses two basic rites that complement one another, baptism and the Eucharist, the one giving access to the other. In The Origins of Christianity etienne Nodet and Justin Taylor investigate the character of the early Christian community by looking into the origins of these two rites and the links between them. A fundamental work on the initiation sacraments, The Origins of Christianity focuses on the Essenes for whom baptism marked the successful conclusion of a process of initiation and whose essential act as a community was an eschatological meal, principally of bread and wine. This marginal, tradition-bound culture came in contact with Gentiles. The result was a profound change that transformed a sect into a Church. The Origins of Christianity begins by examining two scenes in Acts 'Peter's visit to Cornelius and the night at Troas 'bringing baptism and the breaking of bread into sharper focus as customs dating back to earliest times. The authors then look at the history and geography of Jewish Galilee and focus on shared traditions with the Essenes. They also show the Last Supper as having elements of both the Passover (Jewish) and Easter (Christian) feasts. They look at those corresponding rituals and their meaning and also at the developments in the ways in which the Covenant is expressed (from circumcision to baptism). From institutions, The Origins of Christianity moves back to the historical question of the opening of the Essene group to those it had never envisaged as members, looking at the deeds and gestures of the first Christians at Ephesus and Corinth: Was the opening of Christianity ton on-Jewish people a result of a crisis within Judaism? Or did it correspond to the changes in the way in which Jesus was represented, as Teacher, as Christ, and as Lord. Does this affect our understanding of the historical Jesus?

The Christian's ABC. Catechisms and Catechizing in England c. 1530-1740 by Ian Green (review)

Abstract: The Christian's ABC Catechisms and Catechizing in England c.1530-1740. By Ian Green. (New York: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. 1996. Pp. xiv,767. $125.00.) It has been two decades since Jean Delumeau drew attention to the parallel efforts made by Protestants and Catholics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to raise the level of religious knowledge and spiritual awareness among their co-religionists. Although he does not endorse all of the Frenchman's sweeping generalizations, Ian Green, reader in modern history at Queen's University in Belfast, has compiled and collated an enormous amount of data that support Delumeau's principal argument. He draws on Prayer Book rubrics, royal injunctions, visitation articles, episcopal circulars, sermons, pamphlets, and a variety of treatises of the time. Green's principal source, however, is "the several hundred" Protestant catechisms composed between the Reformation and the early eighteenth century that come in a "bewildering variety" from multi-volume works to booklets of a few pages, from question-and-answer-form to lengthy treatises. Green divides his study into three parts. The five chapters in Part One describe the "medium," that is, the catechetical tradition(s) and theory, the tasks and techniques as they were practiced in church, school, and home. Green argues convincingly that catechizing "was not one but a series of activities and was not set in tablets of stone but forever adjusting to new situations and ideas:' The Book of Common Prayer, metrical psalms, hymns, and preaching are some of the means that reinforced the memorization and retention of catechetical formulae. Part Two concentrates on the "message" found in a selection of "best-selling or influential catechisms." Most focus on the four "staples" of catechesis-the Apostles' Creed, the Decalogue, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments (baptism, holy communion). While some offer tell-tale clues to the theological leanings of their authors, for the most part the catechisms eschew polemics and deal cautiously with controversial points or simply omit them as in the cases of church government and forms of worship. In chapters 8 ("Predestination") and 9 ("Assurance,Justification, and the Covenant of Grace"), Green explores the most divisive issues of the time, and notes that the conformists and "godly" authors parted ways when it came to the role of the visible church vis-a-vis a theoretical ordo salutis. …

"What Will Become of Our Young People?" Goals for Indian Children in Moravian Missions.

Abstract: Eighteenth-century European writers showed a heightened awareness of childhood and children, expressed frequendy in sentimental or romantic terms. Historian Hugh Cunningham lists key aspects of this sensitivity to children, which had its roots in the Renaissance and Reformation and emerged in the mid-nineteenth century's "ideology of childhood." He includes: "a belief in the importance of early education; . . . a concern for the salvation of the child's soul;... a growing interest in the way children learn; and ... a sense that children were messengers of God, and that child? hood was therefore the best time of life." An exemplar of this type of think? ing was Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf, the leader ofthe Moravian church in the eighteenth century. Emphasizing the child's connection to the divine and portraying childhood as a special stage of life, he wrote in 1739: "Children are little royal majesties. Baptism is their anointing, and from then on they should be treated as none other than a king by birth." Zinzendorf wrote numerous religious works for children and about childrearing, demonstrating a deep concern for early education.1 For Zinzendorf and the Moravians in general, the child offered everyone a model of what the good Christian should be. Thus, not only did Zinzendorf focus on early childhood education, but he also asked adults to look to children for their own religious education. In this sense, the child became both the teacher and the student. The child offered an example of simplicity (Einfalt) and through humility and meekness verified Jesus' injunc-

Melville's "The Candles" and the Easter Vigil

Abstract: Melville critics have long detected a ritualistic quality in "The Candles," the storm scene late in Moby-Dick (1851) in which corpusants form atop the Pequod9s masts, and Captain Ahab, after addressing the "clear spirit of clear fire" they embody, extinguishes them in an act of defiance that seals his doom. Lawrance Thompson, noting Ahab9s prayerlike but blasphemous utterances, Stubb9s supplications to the corpusants to "have mercy on us all," and the scene9s profusion of trinities, tapers, and other Christian signifiers, described the storm scene as "a kind of inverted religious ritual" that correlates, as such, to the inverted communion of "The Quarter-Deck" and the inverted baptism of "The Forge." It may be, however, that "The Candles" is more than "a sort of" inverted rite-more, that is, than a scene suggesting, with obviously subversive intent, the forms and usages of pious Christian observance but having no particular original in mind. For to a remarkable extent the images, actions, dialogue, and dramatic structure of this chapter long and properly regarded as the novel9s climax, seem to evoke but also to invert corresponding elements of the Easter Vigil, a religious observance itself long regarded as the climax of the Christian liturgical year.

Could the 'formulas' dying and rising with Christ be expressions of Pauline mysticism?

Abstract: As to whether the above-mentioned formulas are expressions of Pauline mysticism depends on the one hand on what can possibly be regarded as the religio-historical background of the concept, and on the other, on the results of an exegesis of the relevant passages in the letters of Paul. As far as the former is concerned, it remains difficult to locate a specific background. Regarding the latter, Rm 6:1-11 is without a doubt the most well-known and prominent passage to take note of, while the idea of dying and rising with Christ is also present in 2 Cor 4:10-11; 5:14-15; GI 2:19-20; 6:14,17; and Phlp 3 :10-11. The key to answering our question is to be found in Rm 6:3 where baptism is referred to as eι`? XρισTον 'Iησουν (see also GI 2:27), which is then qualified at the same time as a baptism eι`? τoν θανατον αυτου. From this it is to be concluded that Paul was thinking of the event(s) of dying and rising with Christ as the result of the believer's becoming one with Christ (or e`ν Xριστω) through baptism. If it is to be assumed that Paul's e`ν Xριστω formula denotes some mystical union between Christ and the believer, which in all probability is the case, it seems that the formulas dying and rising with Christ are not, as such, expressions of Pauline mysticism but rather expressions of the consequence of this «mystical» union.

Historical Jesus hallucinating during his initial spirit-possession experience: Response to Stevan Davies' interpretation of Jesus' baptism by John

Abstract: Taking Albert Schweitzer's threefold criticism of psychological readings of the historical Jesus as point of departure, Davies' analysis of Jesus' baptism is criti­ cally assessed in terms of (1) his database of sources, (2) his arguments for authenticity, and (3) his psychological explanation of this crucial event in Jesus' life. The article insists, in conclusion, that Davies' psychological analysis sho:dd be supplemented with a consideration of social values if we wish to understand the historical Jesus better.

Infant Baptism as a Family Rite of Passage

Abstract: Anthropological definitions of “rites of passage” and family system theory are employed to make the case that infant baptism is itself a rite of passage, not merely for the infant being baptized and its parents, but for its whole extended family. The pregnancy, birth, and “fourth trimester” following birth are analyzed as the significant context for the rite of baptism, a context whose broad psychophysical, psychosocial, and psychospiritual dimensions affect and are affected by the rite of baptism. It is argued that pastoral preparation for a particular baptism and the aftercare that follows it need to be far more extensive than is common pastoral practice.

Martin Luther se leer oor die doop volgens sy De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae praeludium van 1520

Abstract: Martin Luther's doctrine of baptism according to the De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium of 1520. In this study Luther's doctrine on baptism, as found in his 'De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium' of 1520 is studied. This is not an exhaustive study of Luther's complete doctrine on baptism. It only explores his views on this sacrament which, according to his thesis, is held in captivity by the Roman doctrine on baptism. It is found that Luther, in this work, shifts the existing emphasis on the sacramental elements to the primacy of the Word and faith in that redemptive Word.

The Aims of Education

Abstract: Late medieval society did not invest in education as such, which in itself casts light on the aims of what educational provision there was. The chief institutional interest in education came from the church, not the state. The church saw basic training in the rudiments of the faith as essential for the souls of Christian individuals, but this did not necessarily extend to literacy, and could remain compartmentalised, so that an individual learned very little from religion to apply to other aspects of experience. By English provincial legislation parish clergy were required to instruct their parishioners four times a year in the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the seven sacraments, virtues, deadly sins and works of mercy. Education in literacy, from the church’s point of view, meant progression in Latin, which was vocationally requisite for all professional clergymen, and so much their monopoly that a reading test in it (the passage set was so commonly the first verse of the fifty-first psalm that this became known as the ‘neck verse’) was given to test those claiming the privilege of clerical status (benefit of clergy) at law, which might save a man from hanging. The purpose of the secular clergy’s education was to produce men who could perform the eight services of the divine office, and those in priests’ orders had to celebrate daily mass and perform other sacraments, such as baptism, as required.

Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and the Great Fifty Days: A Ceremonial Guide

Abstract: Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and the Great Fifty Days: A Ceremonial Guide. By Leonel L. Mitchell. Boston: Cowley Publications, 1996. xvi + 126 pp. $13.95 (paper). This volume is a companion to the late Howard E. Galley's The Ceremonies of the Eucharist: A Guide to Celebration (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1989). Galley's work is virtually essential for anyone involved in planning and executing eucharistic and baptismal liturgies. Professor Mitchell has done an equal service in writing this companion volume, which he dedicates to Galley. It covers the special Prayer Book liturgies of Lent, Holy Week and Eastertide. Galley had planned a third volume, devoted to the Prayer Book's "pastoral services"; we can hope that Cowley also has this in the works, with Mitchell or someone else of equal knowledge and sensitivity. Only ByT-on Stuhlman's Prayer Book Rubrics Expanded (New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1987) offers as good a resource for executing Episcopal liturgies. Galley (and, in a more understated vein, Mitchell) tend to come from a more Anglo-Catholic stance, Stuhlman from an Evangelical or Broad Church one. Therefore having both lines of authority before one when thinking through a service is most helpful. Like Galley (and Stuhlman), Mitchell explains the whys and wherefores of his directions and suggestions, which allows the reader to evaluate, select and (important in a parish context) explain the reasons for celebrating in a particular way. The Galley volume adopts at times a mischievous tone of faux pomposity (fun if you ever knew Howard Galley who affected earrings and leather motorcycle boots at liturgical gatherings). Lee Mitchell writes with a friendly, scholarly and pastoral tone. As befits the seminary professor (he retired a couple of years ago from Seabury-Western), he devotes more space to explaining the history behind various parts of the services, which is of course particularly appropriate to these particular liturgies. Beginning with a preface that gives an overview of the whole paschal cycle, the book is divided into sections for Lent, Holy Week and Easter. The sections cover background history, the reforms of the 1979 Prayer Book, pastoral dimensions of the season in a parish setting, and particulars for planning and carrying out the liturgies. Special attention is given in each case to how one would celebrate in a small church or, to the extent this can be done, without a priest. As one who has recently moved from a large suburban parish with full choir and a number of nonstipendiary priests, to a rural church with average attendance of 30-40, I found this attention welcome and Mitchell's suggestions very workable. The paschal cycle is also the focus for the revived catechumenal process, and Mitchell gives full attention to how the various catechumenal rites from The Book of Occasional Services can be integrated and celebrated in parish Lenten and Easter services. Some years ago a priest of the old school lamented to me that the Prayer Book's injunction to celebrate baptisms on the major feast days of Easter, Pentecost, All Saints' and the Baptism of Christ had "spoiled the mood" of these holidays. Quite the contrary, as one reading Mitchell's description of the full catechumenal rites will see, reestablishing the baptismal connection in these liturgies is what connects common prayer with moral life. I would suggest that Lent, Holy Week, Easter be read through in its entirety before any part of it is consulted as a "how to" manual, and certainly before rethinking a parish's worship. The greatest value of the book is the pastoral wisdom Mitchell offers. For all his historical knowledge, what he says is always directed to the present day; despite the fact that his career centered in a seminary chapel, his concern here is always with the diverse range of Episcopal parishes. …

Splendeurs et misères des pratiques réformées du baptême

Abstract: For John Calvin, baptism is the sign and the seal of our common commitment as disciples. Through their baptism, Christians are untied to Christ, and each with all other Christians and with the Church of all times and places. This study examines how that communion in baptism is expressed in the liturgies of the Reformed Churches of France and French-speaking Switzerland. Four constants can be found throughout body of material under examination. 1) Proclaiming the Word: here the accent is on communicating God's promises. The foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Word. The Church accomplishes its mission faithfully preaching the Gospel for the sanctification of her members and for the salvation qf the world. 2) Twofold grace: it is at God's initiative that our sins are forgiven, and we are called to conversion and sanctification. 3) A mosaic of Bible verses constitute the body of the liturgies. 4) Preference is given to one's relation to God, rather than to a theological description. The author goes on showing how Protestant baptismal liturgies have developed: images of God and of Christ, for example, are less severe; baptism is less portrayed as purification, than as passage, entry into God's Covenant. The author also analyzes the evolution in the conception of the roles of the minister, the community, the parents and godparents as well as the candidate for baptism himself, as reflected in the successive liturgies. The strength of the Protestant tradition lies largely in its insistence on a liturgy which in its language and images can easily be understood by contemporary people. Its weakness can be found in its tendency to underestimate the importance of the institutional dimension and of the role played by the Church in baptism. To what extent is Communion founded on a mutually recognized baptism truly binding for the Protestant tradition? For the author, Protestants must learn not to systematically prefer an ethic of conviction to an ethic of

The symbolic effectivness of water in the christian ritual of Baptism. An anthropological approach

Abstract: Convinced of the necessity of analyzing the Christian sacraments with the theoretical and methodological instruments that modern social and cultural anthropology offers, the author presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the baptismal rite of the bath of water. He describes the basic notes of any rite or symbol: repetition, complexity, sociability, religiosity and communicational intersubjectivity. He goes on to study the «bath of water» from the perspective of anthropology, the biblical exegesis and the liturgy. PALABRAS CLAVE | KEYWORDS eficacia simbolica | bautismo | simbolismo del agua | rito | religion | liturgia | symbolic effectiveness | Baptism | water symbolism | rite | liturgy