Doctrine Of Baptism Research Articles

Baptism and Conversion Narratives in Eighteenth-Century Methodism: A Norfolk Case Study

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between baptism and conversion in eighteenth-century Methodism through a case study based on sermons and tracts written between 1757 and 1760. Beginning with a sermon preached in 1757 in Norfolk which was deeply critical of John Wesley, the print debate that followed is explored in the wider context of Wesley's writing on baptism up to 1760. The article examines the theological issues posed in early Methodism as it sought to understand orthodox doctrine of baptism in the light of its emphasis on the new birth and conversion. It also offers an interpretation of Wesley's claim to be loyal to the Church of England while developing a network of religious societies that, arguably, observed initiatory practices of its own.

Revisiting Karl Barth's doctrine of baptism from a perspective on prayer

AbstractThis article focuses on Karl Barth's mature doctrine of baptism, as it is developed in the final part-volume of theChurch Dogmatics. Published in 1967 (English translation in 1969) as a fragment of the ethics of the doctrine of reconciliation, Barth's theology of baptism is not without its controversy. Among the critiques that the baptism fragment has generated, one of the most significant concerns is over its presentation of the relation between divine agency and human agency. The formal division in the baptism fragment (and its sharp distinction between ‘Spirit baptism’ and ‘water baptism’) is taken to imply an uncharacteristic separation of divine agency and human agency, which renders his doctrine of baptism inconsistent with other areas of his thought. The argument proposed in this article, however, is that better clarity as to what Barth is theologically up to in the baptism fragment can be gained by reading his mature theology of baptism in connection with his theology of prayer. Barth's theology of prayer is rich and extensive. Although very present across all of his writings, his thinking on prayer (and indeed theChurch Dogmaticsitself) culminates in an intriguing set of meditations on the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. Although unfinished, these lectures on prayer were published posthumously asThe Christian Lifein 1976 (English translation 1981). Together with his doctrine of baptism and his unwritten doctrine of the Lord's Supper, the finished lectures on prayer would have formed the ethics of reconciliation. Importantly, Barth insists that baptism and the Lord's Supper were to be understood not only in the context of prayer but actually as prayer, as ‘invocation’. Rooted in the motif of ‘correspondence’, which is deployed at a number of key points throughout theChurch Dogmatics, Barth's theology of invocation is based on a highly participative account of the divine–human relation: divine agency and human agency ‘correspond’ in the crucible of prayer. From the perspective provided by his writings on prayer, invocation and the motif of the ‘correspondence’ of divine and human agency, this article revisits the critique that Barth unduly separates divine and human agency in the baptism fragment.

Faith, Fiction & Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates by Marcia L. Colish (review)

Reviewed by: Faith, Fiction & Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates by Marcia L. Colish John M. Huels Faith, Fiction & Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates, by Marcia L. Colish. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2014. Pp. xi–370. This is a thorough, historical-theological study of the development of doctrine on three issues: baptism by desire, fictive baptism, and forced baptism. Although a Catholic consensus on these issues has been in place for centuries now, this was not the case in the Middle Ages. The author explores the vigorous and wide-ranging debates on these questions from patristic times up to the early fourteenth century and reveals a surprising diversity of opinions and arguments. A canonical undercurrent in the work, without being systematically developed, is the fundamental notion of sacramental intentionality. The celebration of baptism does not achieve its effects unless the minister intends to do what the Church does when it baptizes and the one baptized, who has the use of reason, intends to receive the sacrament. While the meaning of “baptism by desire” and “forced baptism” are readily grasped, “fictive baptism” is more complex, involving several issues addressed by theologians and canonists in different periods of history. The first to be discussed by patristic authors was whether a stage play or children’s play that included a baptism could be considered a valid baptism if the pagan actor or child actually intended to receive it. A second question was whether baptism performed by heretics and schismatics was fictive or valid. A third issue was the validity of the baptism of pagan leaders who had asked for the sacrament as a ploy to divert unsuspecting Christians before plundering and slaughtering them. Doubts also arose in the minds of some medieval authors concerning the validity of baptisms performed by clerics whose own ordination was suspect. The most widely debated [End Page 257] issue was whether the effects of baptism were realized when the adult being baptized lacked true faith, true charity, and/or contrition for sin. This is an excellent work of original historical research drawing on numerous and diverse primary sources. It has detailed footnotes, an ample bibliography, and an index of subjects and names. It likely will be of greatest interest to Church historians as well as historical and sacramental theologians. One hopes that it may inspire similar studies on related subjects. A topic of significant interest to canonists today is the extent to which heterodox beliefs about the Trinity and the doctrine of baptism can infect the internal will of the minister such that he/she is not able to intend to do what the Church does in baptizing. An in-depth study of this question could go a long way to explain the several declarations in recent decades by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the invalidity of baptism as practiced by various sects purporting to be Christian. John M. Huels Saint Paul University Faculty of Canon Law Ottawa, Ontario Copyright © 2014 Catholic University of America Press

Definitive, Defective or Deft? Reassessing Barth's Doctrine of Baptism in Church Dogmatics IV/4

AbstractKarl Barth's doctrine of baptism articulated in Church Dogmatics IV/4 is due for reassessment. Interpretation of this part of Barth's intellectual legacy has been conceptually determined by unresolved tensions within the Reformed tradition's sacramentology and by a widespread notion that Barth shifted from one side of this tension to the other over the course of his career. This article contests that notion and argues that Barth's doctrine of baptism is more sophisticated than often thought. By developing the concept of ‘paradoxical identity’ as a way to describe how Barth thinks about the relation between divine and human action, this article sheds new light on the value of Barth's work in Church Dogmatics IV/4.

Susan K. Wood, One Baptism: Ecumenical Dimensions of the Doctrine of Baptism

Susan K. Wood, One Baptism: Ecumenical Dimensions of the Doctrine of Baptism

Book Review: One Baptism: Ecumenical Dimensions of the Doctrine of Baptism

Book Review: One Baptism: Ecumenical Dimensions of the Doctrine of Baptism

The Pauline Letters in James D.G. Dunn's Baptism in the Holy Spirit

AbstractJames D.G. Dunn's Baptism in the Holy Spirit asserts that Pentecostalism and its doctrine of baptism in the Holy Spirit is built solely on the book of Acts. Dunn thinks that the letters of Paul offer no support for the doctrine of Spirit-baptism and wholly agree with his conversioninitiation understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit. But in making this assertion, Dunn is ignoring a long line of biblical interpretation in the Anglican tradition. This interpretive tradition, which begins with the Puritans and continues through the Keswick convention and the Anglican Charismatic renewal sees the 'sealing of the Spirit' found in 2 Cor 1.21-22 and Eph 1.13-14 as a clear indication that Paul knew a second empowering experience of the Spirit, an experience that is indicated in many places in his letters.

Authority, Mission, and Institution: A Systematic Consideration of Matthew 28.18-20 in Karl Barth's Doctrine of Baptism

AbstractMany of Barth's most faithful and devoted interpreters have taken issue with his unapologetically non-sacramental account of baptism in CD IV/4 and his attendant rejection of infant baptism. While many questions have been raised concerning the veracity of the exegesis that Barth produces in support of his position, little attention has been paid to the way in which Matthew 28.18-20, when systematically considered, relates to his account of baptism. Taking the themes of authority, mission and institution as analytic tools, this paper examines the role played by the Matthean passage throughout the Church Dogmatics period, and considers how these themes relate to Barth's rejection of infant baptism. It is suggested in conclusion that understanding baptism as the 'sign of the gospel' allows us to move beyond Barth's rejection of infant baptism without abrogating his concern for mission.

The Roles of Christ's Humanity in Salvation: Insights from Theodore of Mopsuestia (review)

Reviewed by: The Roles of Christ's Humanity in Salvation:Insights from Theodore of Mopsuestia Charles Kannengiesser Frederick G. Mc Leod, S.J. The Roles of Christ's Humanity in Salvation: Insights from Theodore of Mopsuestia Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2005 Pp. xvi + 278. $69.95. Anticipated by two well-received monographs, The Soteriology of Narsai (Rome, 1973) and The Image of God in the Antiochene Tradition (Washington, 1999), both of which were completed by a substantial article in this journal (10 [2002]: 37–75) on "The Theological Ramifications of Theodore of Mopsuestia's Understanding of Baptism and the Eucharist," the present work announces the originality [End Page 240] of the author's purpose by its very title. By claiming that the "insights of Theodore of Mopsuestia" in which Mc Leod is specially interested concentrate on "the roles (my emphasis) of Christ's humanity in salvation," the author frees his research from the metaphysical abstraction of conventional school christologies when discussing the classical debates of the fourth and fifth centuries. Instead of analyzing Theodore's theory of the unity of Christ's two natures only though a modernizing paraphrase of what Theodore himself or his adversaries said on that issue, as has been the custom among a few recent generations of historians of dogma, the author starts by a penetrating study of "Theodore's method of interpreting scripture" (20–57). McLeod argues that Theodore "differed notably from Diodore, John Chrysostom, and Theodoret . . . in his unique interpretation of the image of God and the divine plerōma," and that "he did not consider the Christological question about the unity of Christ's human and divine natures from a philosophical perspective" (57). In particular, in Theodore's typology of Adam and Christ, his scriptural exegesis reveals the originality of his insight. The Pauline metaphor of Christ's body as church in stark contrast with Adam's body, meaning sinful humanity, prompted in Theodore a theory of salvation in which the principle of human freedom prevails over any idea of an original sin that vitiates nature itself. His notion of a salvific incorporation in Christ was essentially sacramental, based on his doctrine of baptism and the Eucharist, both being explained by him through a sound and a realistic interpretation of Pauline statements. The role of the Spirit in the existential experience of the salvation process is very well highlighted. Christ's human nature becomes a bond uniting the whole cosmic reality in a saved "body," namely Christ himself according to Colossians 15.20. Christ represents the plerōma of the saved members of the church and the cosmos as a whole. The author offers a nuanced analysis of that cosmic Christology in discussion with U. Wickert and others (110–23). Through his humanity Christ renders visible the mystery of divine Trinity. Precisely in his incarnate status he is "the visible image of the invisible God" (Col 1.13–20). Here I may note that in this regard Theodore's thought comes close to the teaching of Athanasius of Alexandria, his older contemporary. Contrary to Diodore, John Chrysostom, and Theodoret, Theodore also stresses that Christ, as the Image of God, incorporates believers of both sexes in his iconic supremacy. He affirms the equality of men and women as saved by their participation in Christ the Image of God (138–43). Theodore's proper understanding of the christological mystery is set forth in chapters 6 and 7, the most significant section of the present study. The author insists on his singular purpose: "my approach is a functional, existential one" (145). Indeed, McLeod reformulates all the usual christological terms as Theodore himself defined them: the prosōpon of Christ is the joined manifestation of his divine and his human natures; "every perfect nature, if it is a truly existing being, has its own hypostasis, which in [my correction] turn has its own prosōpon"(150). But in Christ the "exact" union between the two natures results in a common prosōpon of both: "the Word has chosen to reveal himself together with Christ's human prosōpon in such a way that both inner natures can be recognized as present and...

Guds frie nåde, troens frie gensvar: Frelsens betingelser hos N. F. S. Grundtvig og John Wesley

Guds frie nåde, troens frie gensvar: Frelsens betingelser hos N. F. S. Grundtvig og John Wesley[Free Divine Grace andfree Response o f Faith: Conditionalist Motives in N. F. S. Grundtvig and John Wesley]By Niels Henrik GregersenThe essay aims to point out common theological grounds between John Wesley (1703-1791) and N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872). It is argued, first, that Wesley and Grundtvig share the same problem of how to reformulate the Reformation insight in God’s unconditional justification in a context of modernity, in which human freedom is seen as essential also in spiritual matters. It is furthermore argued that Wesley and Grundtvig concur in criticizing the Augustinian-Reformed doctrine of double predestination. Both argue that grace is for all humankind, but grace is not an irresistible force that captivates the human mind. Grace, rather, is a divine self-offering that stimulates the sinner to give a positive response to God’s free offer. Due to his Arminian allegiance, Wesley was an outspoken conditionalist, who explicitly criticized Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. Grundtvig’s critique of Augustine and Luther, by contrast, was mostly of a more indirect nature and couched in his independent use of the Augustinian motifs of grace. The most important difference between Wesley and Grundtvig, however, is that whereas Wesley develops an expanded notion of prevenient grace, Grundtvig expands the traditional notion of creation and imago dei. According to Grundtvig’s doctrine of baptism (central to his so-called Church View), the invitation by Christ to become baptized puts the requirement on the old human being (who is not yet baptized by the Holy Spirit) that he or she must renounce the Devil and embrace the truth of God. Grundtvig’s rich doctrine of imago dei and divine providence can thus be seen as a functional equivalent to Wesley’s doctrine of prevenient grace. Grundtvig, however, never shared Wesley’s view of the possibility of a Christian perfection. Instead, Grundtvig developed a theory of the possibility of a post-mortal conversion (cf. 1 Pet 3). This eschatological vision has the same universal scope as Wesley’s doctrine of prevenient grace, but involves a temporal relaxation as compared with Wesley’s evangelicalism.The common ground between Grundtvig and Wesley casts a new light on the very structure of Grundtvig’s theology. Grundtvig’s “Church View” should not be understood as a precursor to 20th century dialectical theology. Divine action, according to Grundtvig, is certainly primary to human activity, but it is not unilateral. The baptismal covenant between God and the human person involves an “agreement”, or contract, between two parties, God and humanity. God offers His divine grace, but human beings should themselves accept grace in order to be part of salvation. This important motif is reflected in Grundtvig’s doctrinal writings, especially in his doctrine of baptism; however, conditionalist motifs can also be found in his hymns and sermons.

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

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.

Calvin's Doctrine of Baptism

John Calvin succeeds in stating his position on baptism in such a way that it becomes not only an integral part of his entire system of theological thought, but also an occasion for a very lucid exposition of the central themes characteristic of his theology. Calvin achieves this by carefully delineating the proper manner of approach to the discussion of the doctrine of baptism. Specifically, Calvin insists that the meaning of baptism cannot be genuinely understood if we take the external ceremonies as the point of departure for our discussion. Instead, it is of basic importance first and foremost to be concerned with the promises of God offered in baptism, never forgetting that these are the inward mysteries for whose sake the outward signs are present. Such an approach is possible and even necessary because of the relationship which exists between the word and the sacramental sign. The sacrament never exists autonomously; it is, as we shall soon discuss in more detail, rather like an appendix that is attached for the purpose of confirmation and ratification to an already clearly given divine word of promise.

Book Review: I. Biblical Studies: The Biblical Doctrine of Baptism

Book Review: I. Biblical Studies: The Biblical Doctrine of Baptism

The New Testament Doctrine of Baptism: An Essay in Biblical Theology

The New Testament Doctrine of Baptism: An Essay in Biblical Theology

Book Review: The New Testament Doctrine of Baptism

Book Review: The New Testament Doctrine of Baptism

The One Baptism as a Category of New Testament Soteriology

‘I Acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins’ ‘There is one body and one Spirit, … one Lord, one faith, one baptism’ (Eph. 4.4 f). What precisely is here the significance of the word ‘one’ ? It would clearly be inadequate to see this unity simply as a matter of Church order—though it may yet be more significant than we have allowed that, in spite of everything, divided Christendom still today recognises a single baptism. We should be nearer the heart of the matter to say that baptism is one because it makes one. Just as it is ‘because there is one bread’ that ‘we, who are many, are one body’ (I Cor. 10.17), so it is baptism which in the first place creates this unity: ‘In one Spirit were we all baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free’ (I Cor. 12.13); ‘for as many of you as were baptised into Christ … are all one man in Christ Jesus’ (Gal. 3.27 f).Yet there are other elements in the NT doctrine of baptism which suggest that even this does not exhaust the meaning of the phrase. To be baptised ‘into Christ’ is not merely to find a new and given unity among ourselves. It is to be ‘baptised into his death’ (Rom. 6.3), to be ‘circumcised … in the circumcision of Christ’ (Col. 2.11).

Book Review: The Seal of the Spirit. A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the New Testament and the Fathers

Book Review: The Seal of the Spirit. A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the New Testament and the Fathers

REVIEWS

Reviews in this ArticleTheodicy. By G. W. Leibniz. Edited, with an introduction, by Austin Farrar. Translated by E. M. Huggard.Humanity and Deity. By W. M. Urban.Reason and Common Sense. An inquiry into some problems of Philosophy. By R. G. Mayor.Six Existentialist Thinkers. By H. J. Blackham.The Seal of the Spirit. A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the New Testament and the Fathers. By G. W. H. Lampe.Educational Essays. By F. H. Drinkwater.Christopher's Talks to Catholic Parents. By David L. Greenstock.Science and Humanism. By Erwin Schrödinger.Science and Christian Apologetic. By E. F. Caldin.Eight Decisive Books of Antiquity. By F. R. Hoare.The Making of France. By Marie‐Madeleine Martin.Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall. By J. M. Thompson.Leisure the Basis of Culture. By Josef Pieper. Translated by Alexander Dru. With an introduction by T. S. Eliot.The Common Pzursuit. By F. R. Leavis.In Vallombrosa. By David Mathew.The Priest as Minister of Confirmation. By E. J. Mahoney.St Thomas and the Existence of God: Three Interpretations. By William Bryar.Russian Opera. By Martin Cooper.Gilbert and Sullivan. By Arthur Jacobs.Geography of Hunger. By Josué de Castro.

Reviews of Book: The Seal of the Spirit. A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the New Testament and the Fathers

Reviews of Book: The Seal of the Spirit. A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the New Testament and the Fathers

Further Thoughts About Baptism

In the discussion concerning the doctrine of baptism two fairly clear and steady datum-points are provided by the views of the Roman Catholic and Baptist Churches respectively.