Baptismal Liturgy Research Articles

RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND THE TIMING OF BAPTISM IN ENGLAND, 1538–1750

ABSTRACTThe religious reforms of the sixteenth century exerted a profound impact upon the liturgy of baptism in England. While historians' attention has been drawn to the theological debates concerning the making of the sign of the cross, the new baptism liturgy contained within the Book of common prayer also placed an innovative importance on the public performance of the rite in the presence of the whole congregation on Sundays and other holy days. Both religious radicals and conservatives contested this stress on ceremony and publicity throughout the early modern period. Through the collection of large numbers of baptism dates from parish registers, it is possible to measure adherence to these new requirements across both space and time. Before the introduction of the first prayer book in 1549, there was considerable uniformity among communities in terms of the timing of baptism, and the observed patterns are suggestive of conformity to the requirements of the late medieval church. After the mid-sixteenth century, parishes exhibited a range of responses, ranging from enthusiastic adoption by many communities to complete disregard in religiously conservative parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. Additionally, the popularity of saints' festivals as popular days for baptism fell markedly after 1660, suggesting a decline in the observance of these feasts.

Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy ed. by E. C. Whitaker, Maxwell E. Johnson (review)

Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy ed. by E. C. Whitaker, Maxwell E. Johnson (review)

The Setting of the Litany of the Saints in the Baptismal Liturgy of the Easter Vigil

The Setting of the Litany of the Saints in the Baptismal Liturgy of the Easter Vigil

ONCE MORE . . .

Books reviewed:Samuel Eliot Bassett, The Poetry of HomerEverett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early ChristianityMaxwell E. Johnson (ed.), Documents of the Baptismal LiturgyRoger S. Gottlieb (ed.), This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment

The Gospel, Gregory VII, and Modern Theology

According to Paul and Augustine, the gospel announced a radical redistribution of priestly privilege, since all baptized shared Christ's priestly and royal status. Over several centuries, due to changes in baptismal liturgies, the Pauline–Augustinian conception faded, replaced by an ecclesiology that separated “true” and “metaphorical” priesthoods. During the eleventh century, the Gregorian reform party provided ideological support for the desacralization of laymen and especially lay rulers. By dividing the church between “sacred” priesthood and “secular” laity, the Gregorians laid the foundation stones of modernity and constructed the ecclesio–theological framework of modern theology.

The Covenant of Circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14) and the Situational Antitheses in Galatians 3:28

JBL 122/1 (2003) 111-125 (ProQuest Information and Learning: ... denotes non-US ASCII text omitted.) At the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2000, the Pauline Epistles Section devoted a full session to a panel review of J. Louis Martyn's Anchor Bible commentary on Galatians.1 the session, Beverly R. Gaventa stated that she understood how the antithesis Jew/Greek in Gal 3:28a related to the situation in Galatia but admitted that she could not comprehend how the antitheses slave/free and male/female in Gal 3:28bc pertained to Paul's argument.2 She asked Martyn what meant by these last two antitheses and Martyn responded, I don't know. Such an honest admission from someone who has devoted years to the study of Galatians emphasizes the difficulty of relating the antitheses slave/free and male/female to the situation in Galatia. I. The Baptismal-Formula Explanation his treatment of Gal 3:28, Martyn follows the common explanation that cites these antitheses by rigidly adhering to an early Christian baptismal formula.3 Martyn comments, Paul names three of these elemental opposites because he is quoting the formula. writing to the Galatians, however, he is interested only in the first pair.4 Thus, Martyn explains the occurrence of the three pairs of antitheses in Gal 3:28 because this grouping is how finds them in the baptismal liturgy.5 Martyn concludes that the slave/free and the male/female pair have nothing to do with the situation in Galatia but are only vestiges of the formula quotes to remind the Galatians that the Jew/Greek antithesis is abolished by Christian baptism.6 This baptismal-formula explanation of the three pairs of antitheses in Gal 3:28 is not entirely satisfactory, however, for at least three reasons.7 First, this explanation presents Gal 3:28 as the absolute abolition of the distinctions represented by these pairs of antitheses. Martyn comments, To pronounce the nonexistence of these opposites is to announce nothing less than the end of the cosmos.8 This interpretation may adequately describe Col 3:11 and perhaps more precisely Tri. Trac. 1.5.132, but the argument in 1 Cor 12:13 presupposes that for the distinctions of these antitheses continue, for otherwise the singular body could not have many members. Even Martyn is forced to admit, From reading Paul's other letters, we know that the apostle was aware of the fact that even in the church, the beachhead of God's new creation, there were as yet some marks of sexual and social differentiation. Nevertheless, Martyn asserts, In writing to the Galatians he [Paul] does not pause over that matter.9 The lack of clear evidence for Martyn's assertion leaves open the question of whether Gal 3:28 proclaims the absolute abolition of the distinctions represented by these pairs of antitheses. Second, the precise listing of the pairs in Gal 3:28 occurs in none of the other passages that supposedly contain this formula.10 First Corinthians 12:13 lacks the male/female pair, as does the list in Col 3:11, which nevertheless adds a circumcision/uncircumcision and barbarian/Scythian pair not present in Gal 3:28. Even the Jew/Greek antithesis, which Martyn identifies as so important to Galatians, is missing from the Tripartite Tractate's (1.5.132) formulation, which adds an angel/human antithesis to the other antitheses found elsewhere. Liturgical and kerygmatic formulas may indeed be flexible in their wording, but such flexibility is not indicative of a fixed baptismal formula that would have constrained to include pairs of antitheses irrelevant to the situation in Galatia.11 Third, the baptismal-formula explanation presupposes that Gal 3:28 is not adapted to the situation in Galatia whereas the other lists are shaped by the situations and contexts in which they occur.12 contrast to the singular formulation of the other lists, the pairs in 1 Cor 12:13 are plural to fit Paul's emphasis on the singular body's having various members such as Jews, Greeks, slaves, and free persons. …

Old English biblical verse: studies in Genesis, Exodus and Daniel

List of tables Preface List of abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. The biblical sources of Genesis A and B 3. Exodus and the liturgy of baptism 4. Daniel and Greek scriptural tradition 5. The renditions of Oratio Azariae and Canticum trium puerorum in Daniel 6. Conclusion Bibliography Index.

Églises doubles et groupes d'églises du point de vue de l'histoire de la liturgie

The author begins with some thoughts on vocabulary: ecclesia usually refers to the community of the faithful and not to the building, a rather late meaning of the word; ecclesia mater is a metaphor or later designates the mother church of a diocese, not the main building of a group of churches; ecclesia major does not necessarily imply a ecclesia minor. He stresses also that the common distinction in the 4th and 5th centuries between fideles and catechumeni may have had consequences for the physical organization of the church. The author then reviews some liturgical documents. The ordines from Trier, Paris and Lyon are not earlier than the 13th century and make no distinction between liturgical function for different buildings. The ordines from Milan and a church in northern Italy (probably Aquileia according to G. C. Menis and P. Piva) mention the separate distinction in the 11th century (since when ?) between ecclesia hiemalis and ecclesia aestiva and allude to scrutini for the catechumens, who, however, were children at this time. The medieval distinction between ecclesia clericorum and ecclesia laicorum is linked to the internal division of the main building by the rood-screen. The notion of cura animarum is a modern one. The cult of martyrs does not necessarily imply a separate church, since the Eucharist is also celebrated in those churches dedicated to a martyr. The distinction between the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist is valid only for the Early Church and implies separate locations for the fideles and the catechumeni, not buildings for the two liturgies. The liturgy of baptism during the Easter Vigil may have implied different spaces.

Les églises doubles de la Jordanie

The inventory of double churches from Jordan is limited : the episcopal group ofMadaba and the church of Amos and Casiseos (Khirbat al-Mukhayyat) must be discarded; the group of St. John the Baptist (Gerasa), the complex of St. Stephen (Umm al-Rasas) and probably the group excavated at Khirbat al-Samra should be added to the twin basilicas of the castrum Umm al-Rasas and to the episcopal group of Gerasa. The architectural organization of these groups and their functions display great diversity. Commemorations of martyrs and baptismal liturgies are important here as elsewhere.

Calvin' Baptismal Theology and the Making of the Strasbourg and Genevan Baptismal Liturgies 1540 and 1542

Baptism is a subject which finds considerable attention in the writings of John Calvin. It features more generally in chapter 14 of the 1559Institute, on Sacraments, and specifically in chapters 15 and 16. It features in theInstruction in Faithand the laterGenevan Catechism, and throughout his commentaries both with reference to passages where baptism is explicit, as well as where Calvin believed it to be implicit. Other references occur in sermons and his occasional writings. Yet in contrast with his eucharistic teaching, there have been far fewer studies on his theology of baptism. Amongst the contributions of English speaking scholars, the studies of R. S. Wallace,Calvin's Doctrine of the Word and Sacraments, 1953 and T. F. Torrance's discussion in the 1957 Church of Scotland report on baptism remain invaluable. Both Wallace and Torrance present a systematic survey of the Reformer's baptismal theology as it is found in the 1559Institute, the commentaries and sermons, pinpointing his important emphases. In an article in 1962 E. Grislis gave a comprehensive summary of the teaching on baptism in the 1559Institute, drawing attention to a tension between election and instrumentality. More recently still Jill Rait examined the teaching on infant baptism in the 1559Institute, suggesting that it needs to be understood in the light of three inter-related principles, viz:

Two Seventeenth-Century Examples of Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi: The Baptismal and Eucharistic Theologies and Liturgies of Jeremy Taylor and Richard Baxter

Two Seventeenth-Century Examples of Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi: The Baptismal and Eucharistic Theologies and Liturgies of Jeremy Taylor and Richard Baxter

Liturgia i teologia chrztu św. Augustyna w Mediolanie

The liturgy of baptism performed by St. Ambrose consisted of three parts: prebaptismal, baptismal and postbaptismal rites.

TEXTUAL UNION AND THESONG OF SONGS

For nearly fifty years my father has been what the Methodist Church in England calls a 'local preacher', a layperson who preaches and presides over the liturgy. When I told him that I was working on . the Song of Songs, and asked him what his views on the text were, he was evidently somewhat taken aback, and had to confess that it had never occurred to him that it would be possible to preach on the Song of Songs, or to make use of it in public worship. He was, in fact, under the impression that the Song was one of the books of the Old Testament Apocrypha, and not a properly canonical text. It is, of course, one of the Ketuvim, the Writings, which together with the Torah and the Prophets make up the Hebrew biblical canon. Nevertheless, the Song of Songs is typically absent from that inner canon which the various Christian churches select from within the Christian biblical canon as a whole; absent, that is, from the inner canon of texts perceived as being most necessary for salvation and most fitting for liturgical use. Even in the Roman Rite, where one might expect to find the Song most richly represented, it is completely absent from the lectionary for Sundays and feast days: the only place where it for a moment assumes the status of a privileged text is in the rite for the consecration of Virgins.I The whole people of God are not encouraged to appropriate the Song for themselves. But it wasn't always so: Augustine characteristically cites the Song in the context of discussion of the liturgy of baptism, the liturgy in which he says the Church celebrates its union with Christ.2 And in Jewish worship the Song still has a central place: in the Sephardic rite it is chanted every Friday at the beginning of the Sabbath liturgy. The Hebrew scholar Andre Chouraqui recalls that from infancy he heard the Song of Solomon intoned to the

“GOD FATHER ALL-SOVEREIGN”

Summary The formula tbeos pater pantokrator, standard in the Creeds, is virtually absent from all other forms of contemporaneous Christian literature. Its original setting can therefore be established only by inference. In the New Testament not only the word pantokrator has a distinct liturgical overtone, but the same is true of the words God and Father whenever associated. This suggests that the three word formula belonged to the field of covenantal celebration. That this setting was not forgotten is apparent from the restricted use of this formula in later prayers and liturgical books: it is, generally in some more elaborate form, found only at specific moments in the liturgy. The accumulated evidence suggests that its origin is to be sought in the liturgy of baptism. Finally attention is drawn to the peculiar anarthrous form of the formula, and the question is asked, if this might be in part explained by the comparison with Hellenistic acclamations.

New Baptismal Liturgies in Reformed Churches: The Swiss Example

New Baptismal Liturgies in Reformed Churches: The Swiss Example

Original Sin in the Roman Liturgy: Research into the Theology of Original Sin in the Roman Sacramentaria and the Early Baptismal Liturgy. G. M. Lukken

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsOriginal Sin in the Roman Liturgy: Research into the Theology of Original Sin in the Roman Sacramentaria and the Early Baptismal Liturgy. G. M. Lukken Roger E. ReynoldsRoger E. Reynolds Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 51, Number 4Oct., 1976 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2850740 Copyright 1976 The Mediaeval Academy of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Christian Initiation: a Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Ambrose of Milan. By Hugh M. Riley. (The Catholic University of America Studies in Christian Antiquity, 17). Pp. xxxiv + 482. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, Consortium Press, 1974. $21.

Christian Initiation: a Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Ambrose of Milan. By Hugh M. Riley. (The Catholic University of America Studies in Christian Antiquity, 17). Pp. xxxiv + 482. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, Consortium Press, 1974. $21. - Volume 26 Issue 4

Book Review: Christian Initiation: A Comparative Study in the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Ambrose of Milan

Book Review: Christian Initiation: A Comparative Study in the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Ambrose of Milan

Christian Initiation. A Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Ambrose of Milan. By Hugh M. Riely. The Catholic University of America Studies in Christian Antiquity, no. 17. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, Consortium Press, 1974. xxxiii+481 pp. $21.00.

Christian Initiation. A Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Ambrose of Milan. By Hugh M. Riely. The Catholic University of America Studies in Christian Antiquity, no. 17. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, Consortium Press, 1974. xxxiii+481 pp. $21.00. - Volume 44 Issue 1

Christian Initiation: A Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Ambrose of Milan. By Hugh M. Riley. Volume 17 of Studies in Christian Antiquity. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, Consortium Press, 1974. xxxiii + 481 pages. $21.00.

Christian Initiation: A Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Ambrose of Milan. By Hugh M. Riley. Volume 17 of Studies in Christian Antiquity. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, Consortium Press, 1974. xxxiii + 481 pages. $21.00. - Volume 2 Issue 2