New directions in adult baptism: Baptism in a secular culture

Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 430-436
Author(s):  
W. John Carswell
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Christian Initiation ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done ◽  
The Church

In this article I argue that the rise of secular culture demands a new approach to baptism, especially the baptism of adult converts for whom the claims of Christianity may be entirely unfamiliar and who will in consequence need extensive preparation to make the sacrament sensible and the Christian life meaningful. Towards that end, I review work done on the subject in the Church of Scotland and commend the Roman Catholic Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) as a model for the development of a full catechumenate.

DAVID HUME AS A PROTO-WEBERIAN: COMMERCE, PROTESTANTISM, AND SECULAR CULTURE

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-212
Author(s):  
Margaret Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
Spirit Of Capitalism ◽  
The Church

AbstractDavid Hume wrote prolifically and influentially on economics and was an enthusiast for the modern commercial era of manufacturing and global trade. As a vocal critic of the Church, and possibly a nonbeliever, Hume positioned commerce at the vanguard of secularism. I here argue that Hume broached ideas that gesture toward those offered by Max Weber in his famous Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5). Hume discerned a strong correlation between economic flourishing and Protestantism, and he pointed to a “spirit of the age” that was built on modern commerce and fueled by religious tolerance. The Roman Catholic Church, by contrast, came under considerable attack by Hume, for fostering intolerance and draining and diverting funds. Hume recognized several of the dispositions that later appealed to Weber: an increased work ethic and tendency to frugality, enterprise, and investment in Protestant regions. A neo-Weberian literature now points to additional factors, the spread of literacy and the fostering of a network of trust among strangers, both of which Hume noted. Insofar as modern commerce both feeds upon and fosters more liberties and representative government, Hume also linked these with the advent and spread of Protestantism. My aim is not to suggest that these arguments have merit—there is good reason to question each and every assertion under the historical microscope—but rather to highlight the broader religious and cultural context in which Hume’s economics was broached.

The Ministry—A Renewed Quest

1967 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-311
Author(s):  
William Nicholls
Keyword(s):  
World Conference ◽  
Fourth World ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Theological Study ◽  
Doctrine Of The Church ◽  
Work Done ◽  
The Church

The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order, meeting at Montreal in July 1963, recommended the renewal of the study of the Ministry, within a new programme of theological study to be initiated by the Faith and Order Commission. As was noted at Montreal, the Ministry had not been the subject of Faith and Order study for twenty-five years. There were good reasons for this. While the Ministry continued to be the thorniest of the practical problems facing union negotiators, it was widely agreed that theologically it had failed and would continue to fail to yield to a head-on treatment. Only in the light of the doctrine of the Church, considered in its christological and eschatological dimensions, would the Ministry appear in a form that could draw Christians together in church union. So, without altogether losing sight of the hope that something helpful could be said about the Ministry, Faith and Order turned, first to the doctrine of the Church, and then, in the period after Lund, to a study of Christ and the Church. Now the time has come to return to the Ministry, in the light of the work done at these deeper levels of Christian doctrine.

scholarly journals XIII. On the word “Mass:” By John Bruce, Esq. In a Letter to Thomas Amyot, Esq. F.R.S. Treasurer

Archaeologia ◽  
1827 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 113-116
Author(s):  
John Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The derivation of the word “Mass” having lately been the subject of our conversation, I am induced to offer you the following Remarks upon it, from which I think it will appear that the word, as used to signify the service of the Roman Catholic Church, is wholly distinct, both in derivation and sense, from “mas” the adjunct to Christ, &c. in the words, “Christmas,” “Candlemas,” “Lammas,” &c. In the former sense it seems to come from the Latin “Missa,” and in the latter from the Anglo-Saxon “mærre;” the one having been used in the early ages of the Church as a word of dismission to the congregation, or a part of it, and the other signifying a feast or solemn festival.

Roman Catholics and Baptists in Dialogue

Ecclesiology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-92
Author(s):  
David M. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Christian Initiation ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
The Church

This article provides an overview of the latest report of formal conversations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance, The Word of God in the Life of the Church (2010), drawing attention to points of ecclesiological interest. It begins by sketching the report’s historical and theological context in Baptist-Roman Catholic relations and dialogue before considering the aims, scope and methodology of the conversations. The article comments on the report’s treatment of its main themes: Scripture and tradition; Christian initiation; Mary as a model of discipleship; and the ministry of oversight. The article concludes that the report is a substantial theological convergence statement of broad ecumenical interest and significance.

Episcopal Lineage: A Theological Reflection on Blake v Associated Newspapers Ltd

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (34) ◽  
pp. 334-338
Author(s):  
Christopher Hill
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Litmus Test ◽  
A Charge ◽  
The Church

Mathew's varied ecclesiastical progress presents a fascinating case study of an episcopate detached from a main-stream Christian community and alerts us to the danger of solely considering ‘episcopal lineage‘ as the litmus test for apostolicity. Mathew was born in France in 1852 and baptised a Roman Catholic; due to his mother's scruples he was soon re-baptised in the Anglican Church. He studied for the ministry in the Episcopal Church of Scotland, but sought baptism again in the Church of Rome, into which he was ordained as a priest in Glasgow in 1877. He became a Dominican in 1878, but only persevered a year, moving around a number of Catholic dioceses: Newcastle, Plymouth, Nottingham and Clifton. Here he came across immorality, and became a Unitarian. He next turned to the Church of England and the Diocese of London, but was soon in trouble for officiating without a licence. In 1890 he put forward his claim to Garter King of Arms for the title of 4th Earl of Llandaff of Thomastown, Co. Tipperary. He renounced the Church of England in 1899 because of vice. After founding a zoo in Brighton, which went bankrupt, he appeared in court in connection with a charge of embezzlement. He then became a Roman Catholic again, now as a layman.

Early actuarial work in eighteenth-century Scotland

1971 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 193-229
Author(s):  
J. B. Dow
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Population Statistics ◽  
Work Done ◽  
The Church

SynopsisThe lecture describes how, in 1744, a fund to provide for the widows and children of the Ministers of the Church of Scotland and of the professors of the Scottish Universities came to be established and examines the calculations of an actuarial character on which its provisions were based. Some biographical details are given about the men chiefly responsible for setting up the fund, namely Rev. Robert Wallace, Rev. Alexander Webster and the mathematician Colin Maclaurin. Other work done by Wallace and Webster in the field of population statistics is also outlined.

The Church and the Other: Mediation and Friendship in Post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Ecclesiology

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dadosky
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Paradigmatic Shift ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
The Church

This essay proposes a development in Roman Catholic ecclesiology following the paradigmatic shift in its self-understanding that occurred at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). The Council represented a major shift in the Roman Catholic Church's attitudes towards other religions, Christian traditions, and cultures (including secular culture) from a previous defensive stance to a more positive one. In an unprecedented manner, the Council officials acknowledged that its Church's own self-understanding is enriched by its interactions with these various faith traditions and cultures. Forty years after the Council, however, there remains a need to account for this shift theologically in terms of what was going forward in the Roman Catholic Church's self-understanding.

scholarly journals Catechesis and education as a function of building the Church according to Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki (On the centenary of the birth of the great educator)

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-347
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Misiaszek
Keyword(s):  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Christian Initiation ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
God's People ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

For Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki, the catechesis was in close relationship with the Church. The most appropriate place for the catechesis as the fundamental formation of Christians (adults, youth and children) is in the Church which is both the subject, goal and object of catechesis. Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki drew the concepts of the Church from studies by German-speaking authors, and above all from documents of the Second Vatican Council. For him, the Church was an intermediary of salvation, a universal sacrament of salvation, a mother, a temple of God, and most of all, a union of God's people, a community in Christ, a community of faith, hope and love. The task of catechesis is, in the first place, the introduction and experience of the Church. The nature of catechesis stems from the concept of the Church. Therefore, if the Church is a community, the aim of catechesis is to introduce it to the faithful so that they may not only participate in it, but above all create it. It is also important that catechesis  serves the process of Christian initiation, discovering the Church as a place of fulfilling the mystery of life, salvation and healing. Therefore, Fr. Blachnicki put a strong emphasis on the relationship between the liturgy and catechesis, because the most complete process of initiation takes place in the liturgy. Another task of catechesis is its function of awakening and developing faith. For faith is the foundation for the Church and the primary goal for catechesis. It is to be both personalistic and social in nature. Father Blachnicki claimed that cathechesis educated faith was not an individual faith but the faith of the Church. Many Christians, even including those most zealous, live their Christian lives alongside the life of the Church, but not in the Church. In the meantime, every Christian is the Church, because the Church is the whole Christ, the head and members, and we are its members. For that reason, the life of the Church grows in so far as the life of faith of each member grows.

scholarly journals Criminal Offences of Turning and Conversion to Roman Catholicism in Dušan’s Code

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-120
Author(s):  
Stefan V. Stojanović
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Unleavened Bread ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
The Church ◽  
Christian Woman

Dušan’s Code is the most important monument of Serbian medieval law. It contains a large number of provisions relating to Orthodoxy, the church, the clergy and monasticism. The first 38 articles are directly dedicated to the faith and the church. The Code also prescribes various criminal offences against Orthodoxy, and the most numerous are offences of Roman Catholic proselytism. The introductory part of the paper contains a brief analysis of the position of Roman Catholics in medieval Serbia, the relationship between Serbian rulers and popes, and especially emphasizes the role of Roman Catholic propaganda and the conversion of the Orthodox to Roman Catholicism, which was most prevalent during the reign of Tsar Dušan. The subject of the author’s legal-historical analysis is those provisions of Dušan’s Code that incriminate turning and conversion to Roman Catholicism. So far, it has been indisputably established in science that these are Articles 6, 7, 8, 9 and 21. In Article 6, the Code of Emperor Stefan Dušan proclaims: „And concerning the Latin heresy: Christians who have turned to the use of unleavened bread shall return to the Christian observance. If any fail to obey and do not return to Christian Orthodoxy, let them be punished as is written in the Code of the Holy Fathers.” Article 7 provides: „And the Great Church shall appoint head priests in all market towns to reclaim from the Latin heresy those Christians who have turned to the Latin faith, and to give them spiritual instructions, so that each one of them returns to Christianity.” Article 8 punishes the Latin priest: „And if a Latin priest is found to have converted a Christian to the Latin faith, let him be punished according to the Law of the Holy Fathers.” Article 9 prohibits mixed marriage: „And if a half-believer is found to be married to a Christian woman, let him be baptized into Christianity if he desires it. But if he refuses to be baptized, let his wife and children be taken from him, and let a part of his house be allotted to them, and let him be driven forth.” Finally, Article 21 prescribes: „And whoever shall sell a Christian into another and false faith, let him be crippled and his tongue cut out.” In the concluding remarks, the author points out the basic causes of prescribing these crimes, as well as certain historical data on Emperor Stefan Dušan’s anti-Catholic politics.

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