How would you justify placing baptism so late in this process, in light of (1) the fact that we baptize infants, and (2) scripture's model of immediately baptizing those who profess faith?
It seems quite perplexing to me that we should expect disciples to be able to move through the stages of growing in grace as seekers, and especially apprentices, while denying to them the very means of grace!
I have baptism as rite number one. I get there’s a tradition of delaying for the Easter Vigil, but I’m not there for the same reasons you mentioned. I’m mainly just working off Webber here.
I’m thinking through the other two though. I see the value in it, but think they’ve got some orders messed up.
I know this is more typically associated with medieval/kings and knights cultures and not as much with the early church, but where would you say the idea of a quest or a great adventure as a certain rite of passage would fit into this model? Would there be any need for it? I have been thinking a lot about young men having specific missions in their church - and reading medieval Christian fantasy - so quests seemed like a good jumping off point for thinking through it.
I ran across this quote and it seems appropriate here:
"We can define rituals as symbolic techniques of making oneself at home in the world. They transform being-in-the-world into a being-at-home. They turn the world into a reliable place. They are to time what a home is to space: they render time habitable."
Ritual is how we participate in the divine - in some small way when we are baptized we are experiencing Noah's flood and Christ's burial and resurrection. In marriage we are Adam and Eve again in the Garden in the beginning, and also Christ and His Bride at the end. When we take communion we are simultaneously at the Last Supper and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. We show forth His death until He comes. This is the life of faith, ie. faithfulness - to embody the story of Christ in time until the end of time.
Additionally, the process of initiation and rites of passage are so important to psychological formation, particularly for men. There is a point where we have to leave behind the life of boyhood and become men. Rites of initiation gave clear markers for the those boundaries and transitions. The solvent of modernity has dissolved all of those boundaries and transitions so that a man no longer knows who or what he is, and doesn't understand what is expected of him, so men continue in an almost childlike state well into their mature years. The same is true in the church - for many their faith remains very childish because nothing is expected of them, there is no goal to strive toward, and no marker to know when a boundary or milestone has been crossed.
The Church has always been the guardian and gatekeeper of these transitions of life - birth, growth to maturity, marriage, illness, death. The Church's rites were intended to orient the entirety of life towards a Christian ending and a final transition to the Heavenly kingdom. They are powerful tools that should not be laid aside lightly.
Excellent article! Thank you. I have too been burdened by the “discipleship” topic of late, and am currently nearing the end of reading The Disciple Dilemma, which I commend to you and your readers.
I fully agree you’re on to something with the power and necessity of rite/ritual, and it is something our western culture writ large has seemed to abandoned—to our own peril.
Robert Webber missed the fourth element - the tangible, felt, accessible gift of the Holy Spirit from the get go. This tangible gift is an assumed here and now presence in the New Testament - “stir up the gift which is within” “do not quench the Spirit’s fire” “pray in the Spirit” I could add many more.
How would you justify placing baptism so late in this process, in light of (1) the fact that we baptize infants, and (2) scripture's model of immediately baptizing those who profess faith?
It seems quite perplexing to me that we should expect disciples to be able to move through the stages of growing in grace as seekers, and especially apprentices, while denying to them the very means of grace!
I have baptism as rite number one. I get there’s a tradition of delaying for the Easter Vigil, but I’m not there for the same reasons you mentioned. I’m mainly just working off Webber here.
I’m thinking through the other two though. I see the value in it, but think they’ve got some orders messed up.
I know this is more typically associated with medieval/kings and knights cultures and not as much with the early church, but where would you say the idea of a quest or a great adventure as a certain rite of passage would fit into this model? Would there be any need for it? I have been thinking a lot about young men having specific missions in their church - and reading medieval Christian fantasy - so quests seemed like a good jumping off point for thinking through it.
Thanks for another great piece!
Thanks for a great article!
Thank you.
I ran across this quote and it seems appropriate here:
"We can define rituals as symbolic techniques of making oneself at home in the world. They transform being-in-the-world into a being-at-home. They turn the world into a reliable place. They are to time what a home is to space: they render time habitable."
https://www.amazon.com/Disappearance-Rituals-Topology-Present/dp/1509542760/ref=sr_1_3?sr=8-3
Ritual is how we participate in the divine - in some small way when we are baptized we are experiencing Noah's flood and Christ's burial and resurrection. In marriage we are Adam and Eve again in the Garden in the beginning, and also Christ and His Bride at the end. When we take communion we are simultaneously at the Last Supper and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. We show forth His death until He comes. This is the life of faith, ie. faithfulness - to embody the story of Christ in time until the end of time.
Additionally, the process of initiation and rites of passage are so important to psychological formation, particularly for men. There is a point where we have to leave behind the life of boyhood and become men. Rites of initiation gave clear markers for the those boundaries and transitions. The solvent of modernity has dissolved all of those boundaries and transitions so that a man no longer knows who or what he is, and doesn't understand what is expected of him, so men continue in an almost childlike state well into their mature years. The same is true in the church - for many their faith remains very childish because nothing is expected of them, there is no goal to strive toward, and no marker to know when a boundary or milestone has been crossed.
The Church has always been the guardian and gatekeeper of these transitions of life - birth, growth to maturity, marriage, illness, death. The Church's rites were intended to orient the entirety of life towards a Christian ending and a final transition to the Heavenly kingdom. They are powerful tools that should not be laid aside lightly.
Excellent article! Thank you. I have too been burdened by the “discipleship” topic of late, and am currently nearing the end of reading The Disciple Dilemma, which I commend to you and your readers.
I fully agree you’re on to something with the power and necessity of rite/ritual, and it is something our western culture writ large has seemed to abandoned—to our own peril.
Robert Webber missed the fourth element - the tangible, felt, accessible gift of the Holy Spirit from the get go. This tangible gift is an assumed here and now presence in the New Testament - “stir up the gift which is within” “do not quench the Spirit’s fire” “pray in the Spirit” I could add many more.