Christian ritualizing and the baptismal process : liturgical explorations toward a realized baptismal ecclesiology / Susan Marie Smith ; with a foreword by Louis Weil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Susan Marie, author.

Contributor:

Weil, Louis, 1935- writer of foreword.

Series:

Princeton theological monograph series ; 174.

Princeton theological monograph series ; 174

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baptism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 271 pages).

Place of Publication:

Eugene, Oregon : Pickwick Publications, [2012]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Most people, even non-Christians, know that Christians gather for worship once a week, and that they are right there to support each other when there is a baptism or a wedding or a funeral. But what about other poignant, vulnerable, or life-changing times? How does the church help people handle changes that in the past, in Christendom, were considered "secular"? Does the church have a role at retirement when one's ministry changes, or when a family's children leave home and familiar patterns seem to grind to a halt? Is there any rite possible for someone who is called to Christian ministry but not to ordination? Or to someone whose vows are broken in divorce? Christian Ritualizing and the Baptismal Process asserts that baptism marks the beginning of a process of participation in Christ's ministry, so that no part of life can finally be considered secular. Susan Marie Smith shows how every passage, healing, and ministry vocation is "holy," and she lays the groundwork needed for every church to create the rituals necessary to lament and celebrate the endings and beginnings that happen in every Christian life.

Contents:

pt. 1. Inherited expectations of baptismal efficacy in the ongoing lives of the baptized. "After the water the fire" : experiencing the Spirit of the baptismal process after baptism /

Augustine on Baptism : Holy Spirit and heart conversion are essential

Aquinas on baptism : it's about the priest, not the people ; it's about Christ, not the Spirit, (or is it?)

Calvin on baptism : two perspectives on sacramentality and the church

pt. 2. Further up and further in : historical and theological patterns of progressing into Christ. Baptismal experience in the early church : changing one's lifestyle

The catechumen process : a conversionary rhythm progressed by ritual

Theology of the baptized as growing and responding : theosis and response-giving

Stages of faith development : maturing in Christ

pt. 3. Making rituals for baptismal fulfillment and the enlivening of the church. Ritual theory and Christian ritualization : the design of ritual strategies

Praxological becoming and ritual copmpetence : a call for baptismal ingemination

Five principles for Christian ritualizing in the baptismal process : making rites for life passage, healing, and vocational change

The one and the many : personal rites for building the Body.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781630878146

1630878146