Thesis advisor: Robin Fleming / This dissertation examines the formation of Christian identity in Europe through the ritual performances of baptism. Baptism was an essential act of social and religious initiation experienced by the majority of people in Europe, yet historians have struggled to understand its administration for ordinary lay participants as Europe transitioned from paganism to Christianity. Rather than a uniform indicator of Christian identity as described in clerical texts and current scholarship, baptism changed dramatically between the sixth and twelfth centuries. I show how what began as a flexible array of diverse religious practices located in watery landscapes, Roman-style baptisteries, portable spoons, lead tubs, and wooden buckets, evolved into a ritual standardized in the stone baptismal font, a form which persists to this day. I deploy an interdisciplinary methodology that engages robustly with church archaeology and art history to demonstrate how baptism created localized religious identities for new converts through its use of diverse ritual places and things. This study challenges our definition of a united medieval Christendom by radically reinterpreting the long-term practice of baptism as a slow process of Christianization in Europe from below. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

Baptismal Ceremonies of Christian Churches The diploma thesis Baptismal Ceremonies of Christian Churches deals with baptismal ceremonies of Roman Catholic Church, Greek Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and Czechoslovak Hussite Church; and Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. The phenomenon of the baptismal sacrament will be taken in of historical view of baptismal ceremonies and itself in the process of baptismal liturgy. The thesis which is on the ground of historical studies and of contemporary forms of worship will demonstrate common and different elements of baptismal liturgy and to what extent the baptismal theology incorporated into ceremonies varies or resembles. Keywords Baptism, the liturgy, baptismal ceremonies

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Uma análise da formação de educadores cristãos, atuando como orientadores do Culto Infantil, junto à infância nas comunidades da IECLB. O primeiro capítulo aborda o conceito de educação e de educação cristã, e as dimensões cognitiva, afetiva e atitudinal da fé cristã, apontando para a tarefa da educação cristã de contribuir no processo de desenvolvimento dos seres humanos na vivência da fé, conduzindo as pessoas da crença (ação cognitiva), pela confiança (ação afetiva), para a atitude (ação atitudinal). O segundo capítulo apresenta os contextos de educação cristã específicos para a infância, através dos tempos, da Kinderpredigten na época de Lutero, passando pela Sonntagsschule alemã, pela Escola Dominical inglesa e norte-americana, pelo Kindergottesdienst que veio ao Brasil com os imigrantes alemães luteranos, no início do século XIX, até o Culto Infantil dos dias atuais, com o propósito de oportunizar o crescimento na fé, como resposta a ação salvífica de Deus no Batismo. Este crescimento se dá pela pregação do evangelho: anúncio da palavra e ação de Deus em favor da pessoa, por graça e misericórdia; pela relação de intimidade: espiritualidade cultivada e expressa de forma cúltica; e pela vivência da fé: no âmbito pessoal e comunitário, testemunhando a fé em ações concretas. É um desafio hoje, fortalecer o Culto Infantil pela redescoberta de sua função e propósito; pela capacitação dos que nele atuam; pelo aprofundamento, contextualização dos conteúdos de fé; pela apropriação de metodologias criativas e emancipatórias; pela criação de formas alternativas de buscar as crianças que não participam; pelo despertar do compromisso dos pais; pela postura da igreja em retomar suas prioridades. Também são identificados os sujeitos da educação cristã, na IECLB: as crianças, descritas sociológica, cultural e psicopedagogicamente, através dos séculos; os pais e padrinhos, que assumem o compromisso de educar as crianças na fé cristã, no ato do Batismo; e a comunidade eclesiástica, que se compromete a auxiliar na tarefa de pais e padrinhos, assistindo as novas gerações, em especial quanto ao ensino e à formação evangélico-luterana dos batizados, incentivando e promovendo a participação de todos na vida e ação comunitárias, e cumpre com este compromisso através da atuação dos orientadores do Culto Infantil. O último capítulo conceitua teológica e pedagogicamente a formação continuada na fé, elenca processos de formação como: grupo focal, micro-ensino, dinâmicas de grupo e de aprendizagem, oficinas, discipulado, registro da narrativa das experiências de vida; capazes de desenvolver ações e reações criativas, construtivas, críticas, de empoderamento, de resiliência, de transformação da realidade, respeitando-se as identidades e promovendo educação humanizadora. Registra ainda os programas de formação que fazem parte da história da IECLB, destacando-se o Catecumenato Permanente, o Ministério Compartilhado e a Educação Cristã Contínua, em processo de estruturação. / An analysis of the formation of Christian educators, acting as orientators of the Children's Worship Service with the children in the congregations of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil - IECLB. The first chapter approaches the concept of education and Christian education, and the cognitive, affective and atitudinal dimensions of the Christian faith, pointing to the task of Christian education to contribute in the process of human development in the experience of the faith, leading the people of faith (cognitive action), through confidence (affective action), by attitude (atitudinal action). The second chapter presents the specific contexts of Christian education for children, through history, from the Kinderpredigten at Martin Luthers time, passing through the German Sonntagsschule, through the English and North American Sunday School, through the Kindergottesdienst that came to Brazil with the German Lutheran immigrants, at the beginning of century XIX, until the Children's Worship Service of the current days, with the intention of suppling growth in the faith, as response to the redeeming action of God in Baptism. This growth happens through the preaching of the gospel: announcement of the word and action of God for the person, through grace and mercy; through intimacy relations: spirituality cultivated and expressed in cultic form; and through the experience of the faith: in the personal and communitarian scope, testifying to the faith in concrete actions. It is a challenge today to fortify the Children's Worship Service for the rediscovery of its function and intention; for the qualification of those who works in it; for the deepening and contextualizing of the faith contents; for the appropriation of creative and emancipating methodologies; for the creation of alternative forms to reach the children who do not participate; for the wakening of the parents commitment; for the position of the church in reassuming its priorities. Also the participants of Christian education are identified in the IECLB: the children, described sociologically, culturally and psycopedagogically, through the centuries; the parents and godparents, who assume the commitment to educate the children in the Christian faith in the act of Baptism; e the ecclesiastical community, that commit itself to assist parents and godparents, helping the new generations, especially for the evangelical Lutheran education and teaching of the baptized, stimulating and promoting the participation of all in the communitarian life and action, and fulfilling with this commitment through the work of the people who orientate the Children's Worship Service. The last chapter appraises theologically and pedagogically the contining education in the faith, listing educational processes such as: focal groups, micro-teaching, group dynamics and group learning, workshops, discipleship, narrative recording of the life experiences; developing creative, constructive and critical actions and reactions, of empowerment, resilience, of transformation of reality, respecting the identities and promoting humanizing education. It also registers the educational programs that are part of the IECLB history, noting especialy the Permanent Catechumenate, the Shared Ministry and the Continuous Christian Education, which is being structured.

This study examines the baptismal practices of the early Christian community using Tertullian’s ethical text on baptism in relation to his other writings to dialogue with the Roman Catholic understanding of baptism, original sin and grace. Tertullian referring to the sacramental form of baptism that is done with water, held that baptism is indispensable for salvation because it imparts the grace that washes away original sin and makes someone a Christian; and capable of attaining a matured Christian life. At the moment, the Roman Catholic Church does not confer baptism of water on polygamists, and subsequently fails to admit them to her sacramental life because of their polygamous relations. This raises a question regarding the salvation of these polygamous families. How do they receive baptismal grace and become part of the church? This study argues that church and baptism were inseparable right from the beginning of Christianity in the New Testament. People became members of the church by the fact of their baptism. This study does a hermeneutical retrieval of the early church’s teaching on baptism and original sin in the light of Tertullian as the pillar of western theology. The study concludes by invoking pastoral consideration to baptize polygamous families (husband and wives) who married before converting to the faith. They are not to enter into any new marriage after baptism since they have received Christ in their state. “Go and sin no more,” says Christ. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Church History and Church Policy / unrestricted

The thesis "Development of the Baptismal Rite and its Theological Emphases in the Czechoslovak Hussite Church" deals with an evolution of baptismal rite (including confirmation) in the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. This thesis presents also main characteristic of the evolution of the fundamental elements of the baptismal rite within the Western liturgical tradition and includes the fundamental theological issues related to the baptism and confirmation in the CHC. The first aim of this thesis is the characteristic of the baptismal rite in the CHC and its evolution from the year 1920 until today. The second aim is the presentation of the basic theological topics related to the baptism and confirmation in the CHC. These aims are achieved through an analysis and comparison of individual baptismal rites, dogmatic documents and academic publications. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Le but de notre recherche est celui de définir, pour la période du IVe au VIIe s., les aspects sociaux liés au baptême, c’est-à-dire l’ensemble des pratiques et des attitudes mentales engendrées dans la société par l’existence même du rituel baptismal, en intégrant cette perspective avec celle historico-liturgique et théologique ainsi que celle historico-artistique et archéologique. L’échantillon des zones analysées inclut en prévalence des provinces orientales, mais occidentales aussi, de façon à composer un cadre le plus ample et représentatif possible. Les données quantitatives archéologiques et topographiques, dérivées du fichage de 436 baptistères, ont été donc mises en relation avec l’évolution de la liturgie et du contexte historico-social dans les différentes régions, témoignée par les sources documentaires et la littérature critique. En conclusion, le baptême, avec tout l’imaginaire et les pratiques qui sont reliés et qui en dérivent, peut être considéré comme un élément fondamental dans la transformation structurelle de la société qui a lieu à l’époque tardoantique. Avec d’autres facteurs, il a concouru au processus de changement des fondements de la vie sociale, qui caractérisa la transition entre l’Antiquité et le Moyen Âge : le Christianisme devint progressivement un élément d’uniformité de l’identité collective, qui investissait, sur la base des mêmes idéaux, des classes sociales différentes par éducation, revenus et position hiérarchique. Un processus de « démocratisation » sociale, non dépourvu de contradictions, dont la première étape fut la généralisation du rituel baptismal. / The aim of this work is to define the social elements related to baptism for the period from the 4th to the 7th c. This perspective deals with practical behaviours and mental attitudes that are generated within the society by the very existence of the baptismal ritual. This social-historical approach has been combined with other two perspectives: history of liturgy and theology, and history of art and archaeology. The sampling of the geographical areas under analysis considers mainly the Eastern Mediterranean, but also some of the Western regions, in order to be as much wider and representative as possible. The quantitative archaeological and topographical data, gathered from the record of 436 baptisteries, have been related to the evolution of liturgy as well as to historical and social contexts in the various areas, as derived from different documentary sources and from scholarly literature. Baptism, together with the thoughts and practices that are connected to it, and derived from it, has turn out to be fundamental in the transformation of social structures that takes place in Late Antiquity. It contributed, amongst other factors, to the process of slow change of the social schemes, that characterized the transition between Antiquity and Middle Ages: Christianity gradually became a source of uniformity for collective identity, by bringing together different social strata on the base of the same ideals. This process of social “democratisation”, not without contradictions, began with the general spread of baptism.

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