EDITOR'S NOTE Simon, Daniel
World literature today,
05/2024, Letnik:
98, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Pádraig Ó Tuama, "Rite of Baptism" IN HIS PROVOCATIVE 2021 STUDY The Editor Function: Literary Publishing in Postwar America, Abram Foley mulls what he calls "the rickety fit between word and world" ...Implicit in that ricketiness are the fissures or fractures that inevitably frustrate writers' attempts to narrate reality yet those very gaps are simultaneously openings that allow for the flourishing of human creativity engagement, and solidarity creating opportunities for "collective modes of being and knowing." Speaking of community, Pádraig Ó Tuama's poem "Rite of Baptism" in the current issue (page 24) subtly enacts Foleys thesis, putting eros to the test. The metaphor of the lover as hunter is at least as old as the Greek mythological tales of Artemis and Actaeon, but shadows of power and possession often leave the hunted longing for another sort of freedom, as Iphigenia knew only too well.
Abstract This essay describes the intertwined syncretism of Italian Anabaptism. It uses the term composite religion to describe a religious heterogeneity in which Antitrinitarianism and Anabaptism ...are regarded as constituent elements. The circulation of Italian Anabaptists in the Transalpine region facilitated the accumulation and braiding of radical intellectual influences; thus, passing from one creed to the other was fairly unproblematic and those who relocated fostered the circulation of the ideas that soon became the backbone of a movement. In Transylvania and Poland, local variants of Antitrinitarian Anabaptism developed simultaneously – at times cooperating, but also contradicting each other on various occasions, and eventually taking different paths towards the development of mature religious churches.
This research aims at relieving the apparent tension between the traditional NT claim of a sinless Jesus and the fact that the same submitted to the baptism of John. If Jesus had no need to repent ...because he was ‘without sin’ then he did not need this baptism of repentance as preached by John the Baptist. For this reason, the question of the meaning of Jesus’ baptism in the Matthean context constitutes the core of this thesis. The different existing scholarly explanatory suggestions on the matter seem unsatisfactory and deprived of an appropriate consideration for the specific Matthean literary context in which this baptism pericope is set. Therefore, this thesis examines the unparalleled conversation of Jesus with John in Mt. 3. 14, 15 and interprets it in the light of the characteristic Matthean attachment to the OT with regard to supporting the messianic claims of Jesus. The exegesis of Mt 3.15 provides the means through which Matthew is understood to define the nature and purpose of the baptism of Jesus as a fulfilment of God’s requirement. This baptism is not just a water-purification ritual like for the rest of the baptised, but the realisation of the two-step procedure, washing and anointing, that constituted the consecration rite of the first ever-biblical messianic figure. The baptism of Jesus that included his water washing by the Baptist and his Holy-Spirit anointing is the anti-type of the act that took place with Aaron in the OT at his consecration as a the high priest of Israel. Thus, in the literary Matthean context, the submission of Jesus to John’s baptism is as much a part of messianic fulfilments through typology as the rest of the actions and events identified as such. The baptism of Jesus by John at the River Jordan constitutes his official messianic consecration and it is typologically linked to the official consecration of the first high priest of Israel’s Levitical priestly history. The practical significance of such understanding is fitting with the NT identification of Jesus as the eternal high priest of the Christian faith on the one hand. On the other hand, this thought also allows a strong meaningful link between the baptism of Jesus and that of his followers in the context of the priestly identity of all of God’s children. This priestly identity in the NT is also in continuity with the model established in the OT.
An interdisciplinary study of the practice and purpose of early Christian baptism as it is depicted in pictorial art and as it was practiced in-built structures, this book integrates physical remains ...with literary evidence for the early Christian initiation rite.
The evangelization of Kievan Rus' had already begun under the reign of Princess Olga, who was baptized, according to popular belief, in Constantinople. However, it was her grandson, Prince Vladimir I ...the Great, who was the true baptizer of Rus'. He was the one who brought his principality to baptism, but failing to eradicate paganism. However, this prince's decision to receive baptism appeared to be motivated more by political than religious considerations. Rus's reputation as a Christian country was boosted by crediting its evangelization to the apostle Andrew personally. Apart from this apostle, Prince Vladimir was also likened to Moses, Kings David and Solomon, as well as St. Paul and St. George, while Princess Olga was linked to St. Mary Magdalene and St. Helena, all of whom were regarded as baptizers of Rus. The granting of this sacrament to Princess Olga, Prince Vladimir's prior awareness of Christianity, and the presence of Christians in his troop were the circumstances most conducive to the Ruthenian ruler's embrace of baptism. This is the subject of the article.
This thesis presents an argument for the development of a catechumenate for the Church of Scotland. It does so first by drawing attention to the wide discrepancy between the assumptions of the ...secular culture and those of the church, specifically the Church of Scotland, with a view to understanding the substantial differences in the beliefs of those baptised and the beliefs of the church. It argues that the church has yet to come to terms with this discrepancy and consequently has weakened its distinctive baptismal witness. Secondly, the thesis considers in depth the development and reception of two major studies on the subject of baptism conducted by the Church of Scotland in the last sixty years. It indicates that both remain largely unknown quantities within the church and have subsequently failed to provide practical guidance to the church in its practice of baptism. This thesis considers the experience and practice of adult baptism in contemporary Scotland and concludes with an extended argument justifying the need for a fully developed catechumenate.
