Showing papers on "Baptism published in 2015"

Benedictine reform and pastoral care in late Anglo‐Saxon England

Abstract: This article challenges the traditional assumption that the so-called Benedictine reform produced a clear demarcation between secular and monastic communities in late Anglo-Saxon England and, consequently, between, on one side, those who had pastoral responsibilities towards the laity and, on the other, those characterized by monastic seclusion. Though to varying degrees, the evidence available for both reformed and newly founded Benedictine communities suggests that the late Anglo-Saxon monks, especially those serving the urban cathedrals of Winchester, Worcester and Canterbury, could be actively involved in the delivery of such pastoral provisions as preaching, baptism, attending the dying, and burial. Monastic communities therefore represented yet another factor influencing the lively and quickly developing pastoral landscape of late Anglo-Saxon England.

The Red Sea crossing and Christian baptism : a study in typology and liturgy

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to present a case for the importance of typology, both in the relationship between Scripture and sacrament and for the inclusion of the Christian believer into the drama of redemption I endeavour to demonstrate the theoretical possibility of an account of the operation and efficacy of baptism for which typology is integral Exploring canonical and historical uses of the biblical narratives of Exodus and the Red Sea crossing, I give examples of the scriptural resources afforded to such an account and of the shapes that it might take In the opening chapter of the thesis, I build on the methodological foundation of Louis-Marie Chauvet’s account of the symbolic efficacy of the sacraments, developing his position in a direction that places a greater accent upon temporality Within my second chapter, I present a theological account and defence of typological hermeneutics In the two chapters that follow, I trace the contours of Exodus and Red Sea crossing typology within the Old and New Testaments Chapters 5 and 6 advance an integrated account of Scripture, the Church, the sacraments, and the body, drawing together the various threads of my argument to that point I argue that typology provides a means by which we can mediate between elements of Christian faith and practice that are often disjointed In Chapter 7, I discuss the use of Red Sea crossing typology within baptismal liturgy and teaching in the first four centuries of the Church I reflect critically upon the liturgical piety of the fourth and fifth centuries My final chapter employs the work of Charles Taylor to frame our current crisis of liturgical piety I conclude that a recovery of typology provides us with invaluable resources with which to address the particular problems that Christian liturgy currently faces

Baptism, Brotherhood, and Belief in Reformation Germany: Anabaptism and Lutheranism, 1525-1585

Abstract: Book synopsis: When Martin Luther mounted his challenge to the Catholic Church, reform stimulated a range of responses, including radical solutions such as those proposed by theologians of the Anabaptist movement. But how did ordinary Anabaptists, men and women, grapple with the theological and emotional challenges of the Lutheran Reformation? Anabaptism developed along unique lines in the Lutheran heartlands in central Germany, where the movement was made up of scattered groups and did not centre on charismatic leaders as it did elsewhere. Ideas were spread more often by word of mouth than by print, and many Anabaptists had uneven attachment to the movement, recanting and then relapsing. Historiography has neglected Anabaptism in this area, since it had no famous leaders and does not seem to have been numerically strong. Baptism, Brotherhood, and Belief challenges these assumptions, revealing how Anabaptism's development in central Germany was fundamentally influenced by its interaction with Lutheran theology. In doing so, it sets a new agenda for understandings of Anabaptism in central Germany, as ordinary individuals created new forms of piety which mingled ideas about brotherhood, baptism, the Eucharist, and gender and sex. Anabaptism in this region was not an isolated sect but an important part of the confessional landscape of the Saxon lands, and continued to shape Lutheran pastoral affairs long after scholarship assumed it had declined. The choices these Anabaptist men and women made sat on a spectrum of solutions to religious concerns raised by the Reformation. Understanding their decisions, therefore, provides new insights into how religious identities were formed in the Reformation era.

Toward a Renewed Theology and Practice of Confirmation

Abstract: Confirmation has often been viewed as a rite in need of a theology. Whether it is understood as a sacrament within Roman Catholicism or a reaffirmation of Baptism in Protestant denominations, there is no clear command in the New Testament directing the Church to confirm its baptized members. A commonly held view is that Confirmation developed in the Western Church from a gradual separation of handlaying and chrismation from the baptismal washing. This dissertation, while reflecting the author’s Lutheran context and convictions, seeks to make an original contribution towards the renewal of the theology and practice of Confirmation. It begins by suggesting Biblical images from Scripture which, while not commanding that the Church confirm, may nevertheless inform the practice and the theology of the rite. Next, it undertakes a comprehensive examination of the history of the development of Confirmation in the West by reviewing the relevant historical, theological and liturgical sources in order to offer new insights on older commonly held assumptions. It then suggests new perspectives by both Catholics and Protestants concerning a broader Sacramental economy which, through ecumenical dialogue, the Church’s Western traditions might come to welcome and appreciate more fully the role of Confirmation in the Church’s life and ministry. This is supported by an examination of a wide range of contemporary

Recovering the meaning of baptism in Westminster Calvinism in critical dialogue with Thomas F. Torrance

Abstract: This thesis examines and critiques the doctrine of baptism in the theology of Thomas Torrance and utilises aspects of Torrance’s doctrine to recover and enrich the meaning of baptism in Westminster theology. Torrance’s doctrine of baptism has suffered from misunderstanding and has been widely neglected. This arises from Torrance introducing a new soteriological paradigm, that is claimed by Torrance, to be both new, and at the same time to be a recovery of the work of the early church fathers and Calvin. It is the contention of this thesis that Torrance’s soteriological paradigm is more ‘new’ than it is a recovery of either the early church fathers or Calvin. Torrance’s new paradigm is not easily identified as ‘new’ because of Torrance’s creative use of Irenaeus, Athanasius and Calvin. His theology is further misunderstood by many because it is partly seen to derive from his criticism of a caricature of Westminster theology. The purpose here is to provide an exposition of Torrance’s doctrine of baptism, identifying union with Christ and Christ’s vicarious humanity as key doctrines that inform his theology of baptism. Torrance has a distinct and unique soteriological paradigm based on an ontological healing in the incarnation. He refers to this as a ‘dimension in depth’ where the atonement takes place from the virgin birth through to the ascension, where the work of Christ is the person of Christ. It will be argued that Torrance exaggerates the degree to which his views may be found in the early church fathers and in Calvin. It is also suggested that many of his criticisms of Westminster theology have some basis, but that his detailed arguments diminishes his more valid general criticisms. The thesis identifies Torrance’s distinct voice from the early church fathers and Calvin and attempts to dismiss Torrance’s caricature of Westminster theology, so that Torrance’s distinct soteriology can be recognised, his genuine criticisms of Westminster theology considered, and the contribution that he has made on baptism be recovered. The doctrine of baptism that emerges from incorporating many of Torrance’s insights is a reformed covenantal doctrine of baptism that stresses the importance of ontological union for covenantal solidarity, but will reject Torrance’s redemptive understanding of ontological healing. Torrance centres the meaning of baptism in Christ and Christ’s one vicarious baptism for the church, and serves to identify how the church has lost its focus on what lies at the centre of baptism. However Torrance’s doctrine of baptism that argues for the theological primacy of infant baptism lost the debate in the Church of Scotland, which now places a greater emphasis on adult baptism. It is suggested that the reasons for this failure is that Torrance’s doctrine of baptism was developed outside of the framework of covenant theology, and that his doctrine of soteriology on which his doctrine of baptism was based left little room for the human response. The thesis concludes that Torrance’s doctrine of baptism can serve as a model for the recovery of the meaning of baptism. While the central thrust of Torrance’s redemptive ontological union with Christ is rejected, Torrance’s emphasis on union with Christ, the incarnation, the person and work of Christ, and Christ’s vicarious baptism can be incorporated into the reformed doctrine of baptism to recover its meaning.

Remembering and commemorating the theological legacy of john g. lake in south africa after a hundred years

Abstract: John G. Lake visited South Africa in 1908 as part of a missionary team with the aim to propagate the message of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as experienced at the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission in 312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles under the leadership of William Seymour, son of African-American slaves. Lake’s missionary endeavours that ended in 1913 established the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa and eventually also the African Pentecostal churches (‘spiritual churches’, ‘Spirit-type churches’, ‘independent African Pentecostal churches’ or ‘prophet-healing churches’) constituting the majority of so-called African Independent/Initiated/Instituted (or indigenous) churches (AICs). This article calls for remembering and commemorating Lake’s theological legacy in South Africa in terms of these two groups of churches.

How the mind of Christ is formed in community : the ecclesial ethics of Richard Hooker

Abstract: How do practices contribute to the formation of the mind of Christ in community such that the community truly becomes the body of Christ?” This dissertation demonstrates that Christ acts on his Church through a complex interaction of community and practices to generate the identity, diversity, and virtue of his body. This is a controversial claim because many hold that the matter of virtue rightly consists of adherence to cherished foundations like Scripture and tradition accompanied by calls to obedience. Nonetheless, this study seeks to identify resources to help the Church imagine a virtue ethics appropriate to a 21st century communion ecclesiology. It does so by reading Richard Hooker as an ecclesial ethicist. Examining Hooker’s accounts of Scripture, participation, and liturgical practices, the dissertation develops a Hookerian account that extends the ecclesial ethics of Stanley Hauerwas and Sam Wells on both ends. On the front end, it derives from first principles an account of how humans come to see themselves as part of the theodrama in which improvisation is required. On the back end, it grounds improvisation in a theory of mimetic virtue. Along the way it shows how a largely Barthian Christology coheres with a positive account of sacramental practices and that a Hauerwasian emphasis on practices is not sectarian. Hooker’s repudiation of appeals to timeless absolutes in ethical reasoning and his demonstration that the self-ordering of the Church is phronetic action means that contemporary “liberal accommodationism” and “postliberal traditionalism” can no longer coopt Hooker to justify their ideologies.

Ecumenical Perspectives on Pentecostal Pneumatology

Abstract: This contribution responds to the unbearable but undeniable tension between the ecumenical movement and the Pentecostal movement by exploring the doctrinal differences in this regard. More specifically, the aim is to understand the challenges posed to the ecumenical movement by the emphasis on Spirit baptism in Pentecostal pneumatology

Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church: A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

Abstract: Preface Abbreviations Introduction Trinitarian and Pro-Nicene The Church and the Donatists Chapter Outline 1. To Know and To Love Introduction Knowledge, Love, and the Purpose of Preaching The Moral Epistemology of trin. 1 The Moral Epistemology of Our Sermon Series The Primary Disposition of Humility Conclusion 2. The Body of Christ Introduction The Grammar of Unity From Grammar to Revelation Fleshing Out the Body of Christ Conclusion 3. The Love of the Holy Spirit Introduction Prolegomena on Love Love as the Source of Unity The Spirit of Love Conclusion 4. The Unity of Baptism Introduction The Spirit of Baptism The Power of Christ The Unity of the Dove Conclusion Conclusion: Appreciating Augustine's Trinitarian Ecclesiology Bibliography Subject Index Augustine Citation Index Biblical Citation Index

Divine Breastfeeding: Milk, Blood, and Pneuma in Clement of Alexandria's Paedagogus

Abstract: In the beginning of the Paedagogus, Clement of Alexandria (c. 200 ce ) marshals a lengthy, medically-inflected allegory of God the Father breastfeeding new Christians on the milk that is Christ. In so doing, Clement enters into a medical debate about the precise substance and mechanism of lactation. Siding with the dominant view, found in Aristotle and Galen, Clement thinks that breast milk is formed from menstrual blood that has been rerouted to the breasts and transformed into milk. But Clement differs from this line of thought in claiming that the transformation from blood to milk occurs not through heating, but rather through the transformational power in pneuma. In this paper, I suggest that Clement is relying on an otherwise unattested aircentric theory, likely derived from Diogenes of Apollonia (5th century bce ). I demonstrate that Clement consistently stresses the role of pneuma not only in his discussion of lactation, but also in his discussion of conception. Given that, for Clement, conception and lactation stand as allegories for Christian baptism and Christian formation, I conclude that Clement finds a pneumatic focus useful in arguing that baptism and formation are points along the same spectrum, as both ways of transmitting heavenly pneuma.

Jeremiah 31:34, new covenant membership, and baptism

Abstract: The promise of Jeremiah 31:34 that "all of them will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," has been of crucial importance for the paedo – vs. credobaptism debate. However, there has been little discussion of what the quantifier means based on Jeremiah’s repeated and thematically linked uses. Throughout his prophecy, Jeremiah consistently uses this quantifier in reference to a group about which something is pervasively, though not exhaustively, true. Therefore, the quantifier in Jeremiah 31:34 should not be understood as presenting subjective knowledge of the Lord as the necessary condition of New Covenant membership to the exclusion of infant membership in that community and infant baptism as the sign of membership.

A Biblical Response to the Practice of Polygamy in Eastern Nigeria

Abstract: Since the advent of the missionary churches to Eastern Nigeria, such as the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the practice of polygamy has created problems because monogamy is taught as the form of marriage acceptable to the church. For this reason, people who practice polygamy are denied membership into the church through baptism. This paper seeks to inquire into the Biblical teaching concerning polygamy in an attempt to solve or minimize the clash between Christian Polygamists and Christian anti-polygamists against the materials available in the Bible as it concern the practice of polygamy. Beginning from Old Testament, the paper shows that polygamy was practiced but was not God’s original plan for Marriage. It argues further that the texts where marriage is mentioned in the New Testament does not support polygamy. The paper therefore recommends that Seventh day Adventist Church in Eastern Nigeria and other Churches in Nigeria need to reappraise their stand and accept that Polygamy is not from God and it is an act of indiscipline that should not be allowed in the church.

The Future of Criteria in Historical Jesus Research

Abstract: Recent discussions of method in historical Jesus research have called into question the use of criteria for evaluating the authenticity of Gospel material. The present article lays out the reasons why a number of scholars call for an abandonment of the so-called criteria approach and then criticizes the allegation that this approach is genetically and logically dependent on form criticism. By analysis of how the question of authenticity is handled with regard to Jesus’ baptism, his action in the temple and his crucifixion, it is then argued that criteria are necessary for assessing the historicity of major events in the life of Jesus. Finally, three suggestions as to how the future use of authenticity criteria may take into account the recent challenges are made.

Russia's Orthodox Soft Power

Abstract: For many analysts the term Russky mir, or Russian World, epitomizes an expansionist and messianic Russian foreign policy, the perverse intersection of the interests of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church. Little noted is that the term actually means something quite different for each party. For the state it is a tool for expanding Russia's cultural and political influence, while for the Russian Orthodox Church it is a spiritual concept, a reminder that through the baptism of Rus, God consecrated these people to the task of building a Holy Rus. The close symphonic relationship between the Orthodox Church and state in Russia thus provides Russian foreign policy with a definable moral framework, one that, given its popularity, is likely to continue to shape the country's policies well into the future.

From the Jordan River to Lake Titicaca: Paintings of the Baptism of Christ in Colonial Andean Churches

Abstract: The arts of the colonial Andes bear witness to a complex and contested story of evangelization that involved a variety of actors, including priests, artists, indigenous congregations, and confraternities. Sculptures of saints, sumptuous retablos (altarpieces), canvas paintings with elaborate gilded frames, and mural cycles devoted to a variety of biblical themes were employed in the religious instruction of indigenous communities, and as catalysts for sensorial modes of communication. The visual arts provided a tangible analogue to sermons and printed catechisms, offering parishioners a lens through which to envision the sacred. Adapted from European iconographic models and infused with local references and symbolism, religious art throughout the colonial Americas introduced new visual vocabularies to indigenous congregations, who quickly became conversant in these images of conversion.

Book Review: Learning Christ: Ignatius of Antioch and the Mystery of Redemption

Abstract: Learning Christ: Ignatius of Antioch and the Mystery of Redemption. By Gregory Vail. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2013. xiv + 401 pp. $69.95 (cloth).Gregory Vail introduces Learning Christ as "a theological exploration of the economy of redemption, based on a historically informed exegesis" of Ignatius's letters (p. 1). Vail argues that Ignatius's theology is cohesive, penetrating, and even somewhat comprehensive, despite the occasional nature of his letters. He examines Ignatius's theology through an approach he refers to as a "hermeneutic of understanding and empathy" (p. 6). He argues that understanding comes through conversation in which the interlocutor genuinely seeks truth rather than the acceptance of his or her own ideas. After this introduction, Vail turns in chapter 1 to what he understands to be the foundation for interpreting Ignatius's letters, namely, the redemptive economy which Ignatius explicates through creative allusions to Pauline, Matthean, and Johannine writings. This position contrasts with much contemporary Ignatian scholarship, which is summarized in chapter 2. Vail is aware that some of what he sees following from an empathetic reading may be understood as maximalist by others, but he acutely applies his methodology without being simplistic.The remainder of the book is divided into two parts. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 examine three aspects of the redemptive economy which Ignatius outlines in terms of unity. First Vail explores the unity of Jesus and the Father by looking at Ignatius's Christology, pneumatology, and incipient Trinitarian theology. Then he turns to Ignatius's understanding of humanity by looking at the unity of flesh and spirit. In chapter 5 Vail looks at the unity of faith and love within Ignatius's writings. Although Ignatius's conception of faith has been read as a deviation from the Pauline conception, Vail argues that Ignatius does not abandon Pauline faith, but understands faith to include a teleological orientation which must be lived through love.In part two, chapters 6 through 10, Vail examines Ignatius's understanding of several aspects of redemption as they occur in history. He first explores how Ignatius understands the relationship between Judaism and Christianity and helpfully situates Ignatius's letters among other secondcentury texts to show that Ignatius is more theologically nuanced than is often recognized, and then looks at the interplay between word and silence. Vail argues that Ignatius articulates his incipient Trinitarian theology through this paradox and teaches bishops to follow Jesus by teaching through action. Vail next explores Ignatius's understanding of Jesus' baptism as a hinge that links the incarnation and passion in Jesus' life as well as the church's sacramental practice. …

The mystical union of infant baptism: How baptists contributed to the idea of race by their rejection of infant baptism

Abstract: The Mystical Union of Infant Baptism: How Baptists Contributed to the Idea of Race by Their Rejection of Infant Baptism by Isaiah E. Jones, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2015 Major Professor: Norman Jones Department: History In the first three centuries CE, the sacrament of baptism proved to be a universal tool which united people beyond age, race, or ethnicity as we understand it today. To put it simply, the theological meaning of baptism was reinforced by the sacrament of infant baptism. That is to say that the Christian faith was for all, irrespective of one’s race, age, or social-status. This openness to Christianity changed in the early modern period. In the seventeenth century the Baptists rejected infant baptism, for a more rational faith based on Enlightenment and Romantic assumptions. What the Baptists did not realize was just how embedded the social, political, economic, and other forms of human meaning and understanding were rooted in the sacrament of infant baptism. This thesis is an intellectual and social history on how Baptists contributed to the idea of race in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by their rejection of infant baptism. By the eighteenth

Few Deaths before Baptism: Clerical Policy, Private Baptism and the Registration of Births in Georgian Westminster: a Paradox Resolved.

Abstract: The evident lengthening of the interval between birth and baptism over the eighteenth century has often been assumed to have increased the risk that young infants died before baptism. Using burial records that include burials of unbaptised infants and give age at death we demonstrate that very few infants who survived the first few days of life escaped baptism in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields, despite a very profound lengthening of the delay between birth and baptism over the second half of the eighteenth century. Examination of baptism fee books indicates that perhaps a third of all infants were baptized privately in the parish and a pamphlet dispute between the vicar and one of his clerks provides extraordinary evidence of the extent to which baptism was a process rather than a single event. Our analysis suggests that it was the registration of baptism that was delayed, with no affect on the risk of death before baptism.

The early Pentecostals’ experience of divine guidance in mission in the light of Luke-Acts

Abstract: The present study investigates the early Pentecostals’ experience of divine guidance in mission in the light of Luke-Acts. On the heels of Pentecostal revivals in North America and England at the beginning of the twentieth century, experience of divine guidance that led them to ‘home and foreign mission’ was a significant element that distinguished the movement along with their emphasis on baptism in the Spirit. While the previous studies focused on the baptism in the Spirit, a comprehensive analysis of their experience of divine guidance is not sufficiently explored. The early Pentecostal literature: newsletters, magazines and journals, abound with testimonies of direct experience of the Spirit and the risen Lord guiding them to diverse geographical destinations and people groups through speaking in tongues, visions, voices, prophecies, signs and wonders. They constantly corroborated these experiences with the Lukan narrative, believing that the Pentecostal revival and its prolific growth were guided by God as the early apostles were guided. They believed that the apostles’ religious experiences during the establishment of the early Church that Luke narrated in his twin volumes are restored in the twentieth century Pentecostal revival. The study aims to critically evaluate the early Pentecostals’ use of the Lukan guidance passages as normative model for their experience of divine guidance. While the previous Lukan scholarship acknowledged Luke’s emphasis on divine intervention and guidance at strategic points of the narrative its continuation to the present as a normative model for the present mission have not arrived at a consensus. Besides the early Pentecostals’ emphasis on the baptism of the Spirit as empowerment for mission they believed that the Spirit guided them through speech, prophecy and visions. Moreover, they ascribed the leadership of the movement to the risen Lord which led to them to undermine ecclesiastical structures, and organizing in the early decades. While the early Pentecostals juxtaposed similar roles to the Spirit and the risen Lord in guiding their mission based on the Lukan narrative, they rarely strived to articulate the relationship between the Spirit and the risen Lord in the post-Pentecost era of the Church. Despite the early Pentecostals’ allegiance to the Lukan narrative, the centrality of God in the Lukan narrative is relatively absent in their use of Luke-Acts. Thus the study will critically evaluate their reading of the Lukan narrative and its application into their mission praxis. The study will contributes to the growing discussion on Pentecostal theology and hermeneutics.

[Bespreking van: J. V Fesko (2013) Word, Water, and Spirit A Reformed Perspective on Baptism]

Abstract: a study of baptism which joins a treasury of theological citations with strong theological insights. After a survey of the history of the doctrine, Fesko focuses on the Reformed tradition and its important figures and confessions. He indicates the biblical dimensions of the meanings of baptism and provides a positive and constructive statement of its theological truth. This is a valuable work for its mastery of primary sources as well as its clear articulation of the covenantal dimensions which give a Reformed theology of baptism such power and purpose for Christian believers.” — Donald K. McKim, Editor, Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith

The reintegration of doctrine with church life and mission testing how to form a learnng community where pastors develop habits for increased missional influence

Abstract: The Reintegration of Doctrine with Church Life and Mission Richard B. Yale Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2015 The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the disconnection of Christian doctrine from both the practices internal to congregational life, and the church’s external mission, particularly in Episcopal and Anglican congregations; and discuss how the synthesis of basic Christian practices, the contextual reframing of baptismal vows, and the teaching of doctrine as narrative can work toward their reintegration among the members of congregations. It begins with a discussion of how the three areas have become disconnected in late modernity, using the insights of philosopher Charles Taylor and his concept of “social imaginaries.” What is suggested is that the Christian social imaginary has been subverted by modern secularist ones. This theory is expanded by critique of the approaches of both traditionalist and progressive Anglicans in dealing with it. A theoretical framework is discussed presenting doctrine as the vision, end, or telos which is pursued by the intentions of believers, and is shaped by a set of basic practices. The vision is framed as doctrine reframed as the narrative of God’s mission, with its proper end being the Reign of God, rather than focus upon propositions. Intentions are explored through the classical promises made at baptism, and the vows of monasticism, together with discussion of a set of basic practices and their role in Christian formation. Vision, intention, and practices are discussed in terms of knowing the story of God, committing to that story, and participating in it. A narrative scriptural theology provides the vision, and becomes a common doctrinal core. Intention is pursued through reframing baptismal vows. The basic practices discussed are Eucharist, the Daily Office, Lectio Divina, ministry to and with the marginalized and poor, and indwelling neighborhoods as places of mission. The proposals are then discussed the larger issues of leadership and further strategies for implementation. Content Reader: Todd D. Hunter, D.Min. Words: 298

Baptism, Conversion, and Selfhood in the Old English Andreas

Abstract: The passions and baptisms of the Old English Andreas signal the poem’s numerous conversions. Although Andreas clearly narrates the conversion of others (by the poem’s end, Andrew has converted and baptized the pagan cannibals of Mermedonia), it simultaneously narrates a conversion of the self : Andrew is depicted as a saint in doubt, whose ‘education’ over the course of the poem models for the generic Christian audience the need for perpetual reform of the self. Even the already baptized Christian, even the saint, must be continually ‘turning’ himself toward God, a process that is repeatedly performed in the poem’s cyclical deaths and resurrections. As Andrew’s mission implies, however, the conversion of the Christian self is not an exclusively interior process, but instead must manifest itself in action that serves the spiritual benefit of other selves and of the community to which each individual belongs.

Baptism of Fire: A Comparative Analysis of Media Coverage of the LDS Church's Practice of Proxy Baptisms

Abstract: In February 2012, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) watchdog Helen Radkey revealed that members of the church had submitted names of Holocaust victims for LDS temple ordinances, including posthumous baptisms. These actions were in violation of an agreement between LDS and the Jewish community and led to increased media coverage of the controversial ordinance. Through a textual analysis, the authors of this study compared and contrasted coverage of baptisms for the dead by several entities, including LDS-owned media, national media, and Jewish-owned media. The authors also examined whether the candidacy of Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS, influenced the coverage of this topic.

The Character Analysis of Jesus in the Matthean Baptism

Abstract: The present paper aims to analyze Matthew’s main character Jesus in the baptism narrative by comparing the Gospel of Mark (Mk 1:9-13//Mt 3:13-17). This character may well differ from that of the “Jesus of history” who actually lived in first quarter of the first century CE, and who is not our direct concern here. Based on the well consent two source theory, which explains the closely related literary among the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke), we shall try to illustrate that this character Jesus does have his own humanity, including thoughts, experience and character traits. By contrast, this humanity of Jesus is more hidden in Mark.

Heathens among the Flock: Converting African-Born Slaves in Eighteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro

Abstract: This article maps the intersections between three sets of ecclesiastical rules issued in Rome, Portugal and Brazil that dealt with the conversion and baptism of African slaves in order to analyze the conversion and baptism of African slaves in eighteenth-century Brazil. Making use of Catholic records from Rio de Janeiro, the article explores the particular place of African-born slaves in Portuguese ecclesiastical legislation, providing a new way to understand how Africans were situated within the Catholic Church and helping reveal the factors encouraging the continuity of traditional African practices inside the Church itself throughout Brazil's colonial period.

Becoming Orthodox: Of People and Things in the Making of Religious Subjects

Abstract: This thesis investigates the uses and purposes of material culture in Orthodox Christian worship. It is based primarily in an Antiochian Orthodox Parish in London, England, but follows pathways of engagement and movement across a wide area. Taking the material praxis of Eastern Orthodox Christians as its central focus, the thesis examines how various materials interact within the ritual and quotidian lives of Orthodox practitioners. The argument here advanced is that Orthodox Christians, within the wide milieu of materials and substances with which they engage, optimise indexical qualities inherent in the materials in an art-like production of themselves. Of particular importance within the wider set of sacred materials are a number of specific items of fabric. The thesis engages the materiality of fabric in and outside explicitly religious settings. Following critical literature, this thesis understands the liturgical vestments of Orthodox priests to make the priest into an embodied ikon of Christ. Drawing on ethnographic research, however, the thesis pushes past this initial understanding, exploring how such transformations are accomplished and what they do socio-culturally. It is argued that the process of becoming, wherein the Orthodox subject makes use of the transformative impact of the indexical qualities of fabric, is not something pertaining to clergy alone. Rituals such as Baptism offer a clear example of how multiple domains of materials are engaged in order to accomplish a transformation of the religious subject. Such situations allow for the examination of diverse social genre, as they are navigated and transformed through material enactments in ritual space. The thesis takes the praxis of such transformation within the context of the continuity of Orthodox religiosity. In a religious tradition characterised by repetition, continuity, and sensuous tactility, this thesis argues that material objects are necessary for the continual production of Orthodox Christians as artlike subjects.