Baptismal Theology and Practice

"Our words indicate our thoughts, but our thoughts don't make anything happen…. It's not the same with God." In Speaking the Love of God: An Introduction to the Sacraments, Dr. Jacob W. Wood shows how Christ gives his Church the power to speak with God's voice in the seven sacraments. In this foundational guide to the sacraments, discover the power of the signs and words that transform us by grace and prepare us for glory.

Baptism, as the one event experienced by all Christians, is the starting point for Christian identity. Literature suggests that there is a fundamental connection between baptism and ongoing spiritual formation. In order to take advantage of the benefits of baptism, pastors must recognize how baptismal practices impart theological understanding and shape identity.
This study explored how pastors’ conduct of corporate worship services helps congregants connect the practice of baptism to the pursuit of spiritual formation. Four research questions guided this study: (1) How do pastors describe the role baptism plays in the process of spiritual formation? (2) How do pastors understand the interaction between the theology and the practices of baptism in the lives of their congregants? (3) How do pastors foster baptismal formation in their congregants (a) while preparing for baptism, and (b) in the years following baptism? (4) What outcomes do pastors desire to observe in congregants engaged in baptismal formation? The study employed qualitative research methods and used a semi-structured protocol to interview six demographically diverse pastors.
The analysis of biblical and historical literature revealed various connections between baptism and identity. The data analysis showed the relationship between practices and narrative in the process of identity formation, as well as the role communities play in individual spiritual formation.
The study provided four conclusions on the themes of baptism and spiritual formation. First, narrative is a key instrument uniting baptismal practice with identity formation. Second, baptism relies on both pedagogical and experiential practices to convey its meaning. Third, baptismal formation is fostered in the context of community and corporate worship. Fourth, the Westminster Larger Catechism wisely lays out the nuances of the human response to God’s gracious actions signed and sealed in baptism.

1 Peter 3:21 has been called “the nearest approach to a definition of baptism that the NT affords,” yet the key phrase συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα εἰς θεόν is notably ambiguous and thus open to divergent interpretations. This article considers under-utilized comparative material from the early Christian tradition to shed light on the passage. Five sources are investigated: the early baptismal catechesis known as the Two Ways tradition; the interpretations of the verse put forward by Basil of Caesarea, ps-Didymus the Blind, and Cyril of Alexandria; and finally the translation of the verse in the Syriac Peshitta version. The evidence of these early sources supports a subjective reading of the genitive in the Petrine verse, and also demonstrates a twofold trajectory in the interpretation of the content of the “appeal”—initially with a moral emphasis that becomes increasingly doctrinal from the late fourth century onwards. In keeping with this more prominent doctrinal focus, the ἐπερώτημα of 1 Peter becomes assimilated to the ὁμολογία of the baptizand, a conjunction of terms that also occurs in legal contracts in the papyri. Hence, the view of baptism as a formal and public contract with subsequent binding force on the parties involved remains constant from 1 Peter through these later sources, though the content of the commitment undergoes development during this period.

This paper seeks to determine how the ceremony of the baptism of Mieszko I of Poland (ca. 960-992) could have been performed. It presents the development of the baptismal liturgy in the Carolingian times and the then emerging baptismal theology that was also predominant in the Ottonian period. The probable course of the baptism of the Polish ruler is described on the basis of the rite of baptism for a catechumen made from a pagan (ordo ad catecuminum ex pagano faciendum) contained in the Pontificale Romano-Germanicum. The paper emphasises the far-reaching ritualistaion of the sacrament of baptism and stresses the importance of three-time immersion of a catechumen in water, a practice followed also in the Roman Church, the model of proper liturgical practices. Based on the described rite of baptism, the article also assesses whether it was possible to perform the rite in structures now interpreted - on the basis of archaeological findings - as early Piast baptisteries, in which Mieszko I could have been baptised.

This paper is an annotated bibliography covering six books and two journal
articles researching for the question “can the Lutheran practice of infant baptism be defended on scriptural grounds?” Each of the sources are summarised in a few short paragraphs under each section and the thesis answer is stated in the conclusion. There were one or two extra books that were consulted in this research but were not included in the annotation section.

This paper analyzes Paul's Christian initiation as the Model for 4th century Christian rites and analyzes Paul's use of language and Luke's theology to understand technical terms such as "calling on the name of the Lord", "filled with the Spirit," and "seal (sphragis)."

EDITORIAL 1-5 Engag ng Scr pture n a Postmodern M l eu FERGUS MACDONALD 6-23 The Suffi c ency of Scr pture TIMOTHY WARD 24-42 Lament For The C ty:The Queest for a Cred ble Fa th n an Urban World DAVID SMITH 43-56 W ll am Cunn ngham and M ss onary Bapt sm J. CAMERON FRASER

Fondato con tutta probabilità sul crinale del quarto secolo, San Giovanni in fonte è in questo stato di cose il primo battistero d’occidente che si conservi con la sua decorazione originaria. I suoi mosaici offrono uno scorcio unico sul problema dell’affermazione di un’imagerie cristiana su scala monumentale e si rivelano fondamentali per ricostruire la cultura artistica del periodo di svolta che dal tramonto dell’epoca tardoantica conduce agli albori del medioevo

Given the disparate details of Luke’s report on early conversion practices, some scholars have sought to deliver their readers from the difficulty of determining normativity. However, the complication which excites such re-exegesis, at least in terms of the ordo salutis, is often overstated. Indeed, once the intrinsic dependency of conversion-initiation’s constituent elements is considered, a general (and essen­ tial] order emerges. Even the seemingly mutable moment of regeneration is fixed given a concrete set of conditions. Thus, the only controversy remaining concerns the particulars, specifically which conditions initiate regeneration.

Due to their desire to preserve the doctrines of sola gratia and fide, many American credo-baptists have been ‘uncomfortable’ with the New Testament’s ‘close association’ of water baptism with the reception of saving grace. And such discomfort has produced interpretations of key soteriological texts which seem to ‘avoid the obvious sense of the verse’.1 Yet because these irregular readings result not simply from unsound exegesis, but from underlying convictions which are historical, theological, and philosophical, their revision requires more than mere literary illumination. For such provincial presuppositions effect not only the probability of a sacramental interpretation, but even its possibility. Therefore, if the efforts of certain mid-20th century British reformers (e.g. H. Wheeler Robinson, Neville Clark, R.E.O. White, Alec Gilmore, et al.) are to inform the spread of sacramentalism stateside (as some suggest), then their American counterparts should learn from their infecundity when using exegetical arguments isolated from a larger conceptual framework.2 For if the persuasive plea of George Beasley-Murray’s exegesis failed to sway the ‘grassroots Baptists’ of his day, what hope remains for the mere linguistic contentions of his liturgical descendants?3

Given the disparate details of Luke’s report on early conversion practices, some scholars have sought to deliver their readers from the difficulty of determining normativity. However, the complication which excites such re-exegesis, at least in terms of the ordo salutis, is often overstated. Indeed, once the intrinsic dependency of conversion-initiation’s constituent elements is considered, a general (and essential) order emerges. Even the seemingly mutable moment of regeneration is fixed given a concrete set of conditions. Thus, the only controversy remaining concerns the particulars, specifically which conditions initiate regeneration.

(in-press) edited collection of papers being published by Dr. Kirsten Lee Bierbaum and Prof. Dr. Susanne Wittekind at the Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universität zu Köln with Arthistoricum Art Books Press, https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arthistoricum