TruthBook Religious News Blog

Saturday January 9, 2010

This is the first installment of what we hope will become a feature of this blog: a solid book review on Saturday afternoon. This review, by Marius Nel (pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church and a Research Associate in the New Testament department at the University of Pretoria in South Africa), is on Everett Ferguson's big book on baptism: Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries .

Baptism in the Early Church - History, Theology, and Liturgy in the first Five Centuries - Everett Ferguson

Reviewer: Marius Nel

Everett Ferguson's magnus opus is a comprehensive historical study of the doctrine and practice of baptism in the first five centuries of Christianity. Ferguson's focus is primarily on early Christian literary sources, though he also gives attention to the depictions of baptism (mostly of Jesus) in various art forms, as well as the architecture of a number of surviving baptismal fonts and baptisteries. He attempts to be as complete as possible for the first three centuries and "representatively comprehensive" for the fourth and fifth centuries (xix). The primary strength of Ferguson's excellent study is its comprehensive focus on all the available primary literature, while also surveying (chapter 1) and engaging (in numerous footnotes) the relevant secondary literature.

Part One covers the antecedents to Christian baptism. Ferguson begins with a discussion of Greco-Roman pagan washings for purification and the role of water in the Mystery Religions (chapter 2). He concludes that while the use of water as a means of purification was common in the religious activities of Greeks and Romans it did not fulfill the same religious role as in Christianity (25). Washings for example, were a preliminary preparation for the initiation into the Mystery religions, while it was the center of initiation into the church (29).

Chapter 3 focuses on the literal and metaphorical meaning of words from the Bapt-root in Classical and Hellenistic Greek usage. The verb Baptiz? literally meant "to dip" (usually referring to a thorough submerging of an object in a liquid). Metaphorically it meant "to be overwhelmed by something" (for example the influence of wine) (38, 59). Pouring and sprinkling were distinct actions that were represented by different Greek verbs.

Please click on "external source" for the complete review.

Labels: baptism, book review, early Christianity, Everett Ferguson, Marius Nel

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

And a Child Shall Lead Him

And a Child Shall Lead Him

Published: February 20, 2008

We celebrated the baptism of our fourth on Sunday. He’s the one without the beard in my head shot. As with our other three kids, the ceremony was a family-only matter at the log chapel on Notre Dame’s campus. Being in such familiar surroundings, the baptism gave me the chance to think about my own spiritual state and what an influence my children have had on it over the last eight years—even though I’m the one who is supposed to be influencing them.

I believe that parents are as responsible for their children’s spiritual well-being as they are for their children’s physical, intellectual, and emotional health. Having gone from calling myself an “agnostic” to a “faithless Catholic” and now being in a state of what I’ve dubbed “surrender,” I often wonder how qualified I am to teach my kids about spiritual matters. Even now, I don’t have much of a plan for maintaining my own spiritual health. Gone are the days when I could strike out hiking on a whim with friends, spend the summer reading thought-provoking books, or just take time to reflect on my life. My days are now consumed with the billable hour, dirty diapers, Bionicles, trucks under feet, and third-grade book reports. What little time I can steal for myself is more often spent on movies and sports than anything truly fulfilling.

Despite the busy-ness of my life, I still owe it to my kids to give them some spiritual guidance. They don’t need to share my own beliefs. But without some spiritual foundation, how can I expect them to live fully? So we’ve turned to what we know, what we grew up with. It was a practical compromise—for me especially. We agreed that we would get our kids through their first Communion. It would allow them to participate in the Catholic mass. At the time, the bargain was made in the context of our kids going to mass with their grandparents. But I now wonder if it wasn’t really for our own sakes.

Taking a child that far into religious education requires a big commitment from her parents. My wife and I had to make more of an effort to make it to church. And of course children have questions. I have pondered—and I believe given reasonable answers to—questions such as “Why is church boring?” and the very direct, “Is God real?” I have also had to conform my own behavior to what we are asking our children to do. I now sing in church. Even if I’m just going through the motions, the fact is, I am minding my own spiritual health more diligently than I likely would have without kids.

And the payoff has been surprising. The thankfulness I often feel has a context. The details of it all may be fuzzy, but I understand that I have been given gifts in the form of each of my children. Often the gifts are moments from my children themselves. The peace of lying next to my daughter as we both read books quietly on the couch. The amazement of watching my five-year-old assemble a complex new Lego toy with focus and determination. The mirth of my three-year-old’s singing and dancing. The pure joy of seeing my baby boy smile at me for the first time. Each of these things fills my soul. And every hug, kiss, and unsolicited “I love you” from my kids sustains me.

So, as I dutifully committed to the religious upbringing of my newest child on Sunday, I had to wonder if we don’t have it backwards. Shouldn’t I have been asking this vibrant innocent baby to lead me, if only a part of the way, on my spiritual journey before he strikes out on his own?

Labels: baptism, children, family, parenthood, religious education, spirituality