From emergency practice to Christian polemics?Augustine’s invocation of infant baptism in the Pelagian Controversy in advance

Orthodox Radicals explores the origins and identity of Baptists during the English Revolution (1640–1660), arguing that mid-seventeenth century Baptists did not, in fact, understand themselves to be part of a larger, all-encompassing “Baptist” movement. Contrary to both the explicit statements of many historians and the tacit suggestion embedded in the very use of “Baptist” as an overarching historical category, the early modern men and women who rejected infant baptism would not have initially understood that single theological move as being in itself constitutive of a new group identity. Rather, the rejection of infant baptism was but one of a number of doctrinal revisions then taking place among English puritans eager to further their ongoing project of godly reformation. Orthodox Radicals thus complicates our understanding of Baptist identity and addresses broader themes including early modern religious toleration, the mechanisms by which early modern groups defined and defended themselves, and the perennial problem of historical anachronism. By combining a provocative reinterpretation Baptist identity with close readings of key theological and political texts, Orthodox Radicals offers the most original and stimulating analysis of mid-seventeenth century Baptists in decades.

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The Origenist Synthesis

10.1093/oso/9780198791959.003.0009 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Moshe Blidstein

Keyword(s):

Hebrew Bible ◽

Human Body ◽

Second Century ◽

Infant Baptism

This chapter argues that Origen’s purity discourse was innovative on many fronts, as can be seen in his writings on sexuality, baptism, and on dietary issues. Defilement imagery concerning sexuality is especially prominent. Although Origen did not prohibit marriage, he saw sexuality as defiled, the quintessential expression of human corporeality, closely connected with sin though not synonymous with it. I argue that Origen was the first Christian thinker who integrated the notion of temporary sexual defilement found in the Hebrew Bible with the second-century Christian notion of essential sexual defilement, creating a nuanced conception of defilement. As in sexual issues, in baptism too Origen supplies a relatively systematic usage of purity discourse; baptism and sex are linked through his understanding of infant baptism as purification from an inherent defilement linked to the sexual origin of the human body.

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Baptism and Justification: A Methodist Understanding

Ecclesiology ◽

10.1163/174553108x341288 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 289-307

Author(s):

Sarah Heaner Lancaster

Keyword(s):

Human Life ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Infant Baptism ◽

Joint Declaration ◽

Ongoing Work ◽

Conversion Experience ◽

The Way

AbstractThe association of the Methodists with the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was a significant ecumenical event. The Methodist Statement that allowed this agreement, though, does not include a description of the connection between baptism and justification. This paper examines John Wesley's understandings of baptism and justification to suggest a way that they may be held together in Methodist theology. The Methodist practice of infant baptism stands in tension with an understanding of justification built on the model of adult conversion experience, and this tension is found in Wesley's own work. It is possible, though, to find in the way Wesley engaged certain questions some indications of how baptism and justification may be both connected and distinguished in order to display a flexible understanding of God's ongoing work in human life.

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El parecer de Agustín del amor como gracia, en la controversia con Juliano de Eclana

Augustinus ◽

10.5840/augustinus201762244/2457 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 125-142

Author(s):

Mathijs Lamberigts ◽

Keyword(s):

Free Will ◽

Decisive Factor ◽

Human Beings ◽

Divine Love ◽

Pelagian Controversy

During the Pelagian controversy, the precise relation between grace and free will was an important issue. Augustine emphasized the priority of grace over human beings’ free will after the Fall. Pelagians such as Julian of Aeclanum were of the opinion that such view annihilated human beings’ free will. Throughout history, time and again, scholars belonging to different schools and denominations have discussed this issue at length. In this article, we concentrate on Augustine’s view on love as grace during his debate with Julian. We argue that one should broaden the scope of this question and pay attention to the role of divine love as an important and decisive factor with regard to the proper activity of grace in the redemption and liberation of human beings. Thinking the relation between human beings and God in terms of love is a help in order to overcome the unfruitful grace-freewill antinomy. In fact, such approach does justice to both the Scriptural sources of Augustine’s position and the bishop’s spiritual view on the topic under consideration.

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