TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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church, namely, thatbaptism-chrismation/confirmation is God's work of salvation and not human invention. The unity of the rite is understood to be inseparably linked with both the paschal mystery of Christ's death and resurrection and with the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Spirit. Christians obviously differ in their understanding of which sign-actions are associated with and designate the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt, however, that one commonly held belief is that Christian baptism is in both water and the Holy Spirit. 44 Whatever relationship is finally established between the various acts of Christian initiation, a fundamental consensus does affirm that the Holy Spirit is at the heart of the baptism/confirmation/communion liturgy. The time has come to put aside the post-reformation/modern use of the word confirmation. At whatever stage in one's life the prayer is made, whether infant, youth, or adult, all confirmands must learn to understand that it is not they who somehow "confirm" their faith; rather, the prayer is that the Holy Spirit will seal and make firm in order to empower believers in the faith and fellowship of all true disciples of Jesus Christ. Notes 1. A variety of postures, for example, might be anticipated by the ambiguous phrase, Jesus came **up out of the water,** at the conclusion of the rite (Mark 1:9; Matt. 3:16). 2. Also see Lev. 8:6ff. Psalm 133 uses a poetic iUusion to the precious anointing oil running down Aaron's beard and down upon the coUar of his robes. 3. Matthew employs the same Suffering Servant imagery in Matt. 12:18-21, where he quotes Isaiah 42 to explain Jesus* power to heal. 4. New Testament scholar Reginald H. Fuller believes that passages which detach or reposition the reception of the Spirit from water baptism are exceptions. See Fuller for adiscussion of the disassociation found in Acts 8 and 10. Reginald Fuller, * 'Christian Initiation in the New Testament," Made, Not Bom: New Perspectives on Christian Initiation and the Catechumenate (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1976), 12-15. 5. See the important essay by Cyrille Argenti, "Chrismation,*' Ecumenical Perspectives on Baptism, Eucliarist, and Ministry, Max Thurian, ed. (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1983). 6. FuUer, "Christian Initiation," 25, 7. See especially Rom. 6:1-14; I Cor. 12:13; Col. 2:12. Paul left a rich legacy of baptismal images. 8. For a brief history of the instruction of converts see Michel Dujarier, A History 36 QUARTERLY REVIEW/SPRINO 1993
of the Catechumenate: The First Six Centuries (New York: Sadlier, 1979). 9. The research of scholars Michel Dujarier, Aidan Kavanagh. G. W. H, Lampe, O. C. Edwards Jr., Kenan B. Osborne, and Geoffrey Wainwright have made a strong case for a one-time unitary rite of baptism. 10. Donald J. Parsons, "Some Theological and Pastoral Implications on Confirmation, Confirmation Re-Examined, Kendig Brubaker Cully, ed. (Wilton: Morehouse- Barlow Company, Inc., 1982), 45. 11. For a summary of the evidence see: Michel Dujanier, A History of the Catechumenate; Cyrille Argenti, "Chrismation"; Robert M. Grant, "Development of the Christian Catechumenate, " Made, Not Bom, chapter II; G.W.H. Lampe, The Seal of the Spirit, A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the New Testament and the Fathers (London: SPCK, 1967). 12. Quoted in Argenti, "Chrismation," 54. 13. Kenan B. Osborne, Vie Christian Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 64-68. 14. Vie Tliird Mystagogic Catechesis of Cyril of Jerusalem. 15. David R. Holeton, "Confirmation in the 1980's," Ecumenical Perspectives, 71. 16. Allen F. Bray III, "Baptism and Confirmation: A Relationship of Process," Confirmation He-Examined, 38. 4. 17. "RICA: From Birth to Maturity, The Story ofaRite," Church (Summer, 1989). 18. Faith and Order Paper No. 111. (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982), 19. Argenti, "Chrismation," 61. 20. Grant, "Development of Christian Catechumenate," 36. 21. Quoted in Robert L. Browning and Roy A. Reed, Tlie Sacraments in Religious Education and Liturgy. (Birmingham: Religious Education Press, 1985). 22. Foyers mixtes No. 50, Lyons, 1981. 23. Holeton, "Confirmation" 69. 24. See Nathan D.Mitchell, "Dissolution ofthe Rite of Christian Initiation," Not Born, chapter II. 25. Cyrille Argenti, "Chrismation," 46. 26. Quoted in Grant, "Development of a Christian Catechumenate," 37. 27. Consult J. D. C. Fisher, Christian Initiation: Baptism in the Medieval West, A Study in the Disintegration ofthe Primitive Rite of Initiation (London: SPCK, 1965) for what is considered the definitive study of the relationship between baptism and confirmation in the Middle Ages. 28. Osborn, The Christimi Sacraments, 70. 29. Milton McC. Gatch, "Basic Christian Education from the Decline of Catechesis to the Rise ofthe Catechisms," A Faithful Church, John H. Westerhoff III and O. C. Edwards Jr., eds. (Wilton, Conn.: Morehouse Barlow Co., Inc.), 68. 30. See ArthurC. Repp, Confirmation in theLutheran Church (St. Louis: Concordia Press, 1964), 21f. CONFIRMATION: IT S HISTORY AND MEANING 37
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Page 8 and 9: I have always rather liked the gruf
Page 10 and 11: of discipleship in the New Testamen
Page 12 and 13: imagine a week without visiting the
Page 14 and 15: transform all of life, and all that
Page 16 and 17: Contemporary North American Christi
Page 18 and 19: We must now see what it is that cha
Page 20 and 21: saying "call no one your father in
Page 22 and 23: 13:12). There is no following of Je
Page 24 and 25: Both New Testament discipleship and
Page 26 and 27: 17. "The Duty of Constant Communion
Page 28 and 29: earliest Christian congregations be
Page 30 and 31: his baptism to the experience of Ch
Page 32 and 33: Holy Spirit comes down willingly fr
Page 34 and 35: The Sacramental Nature of the Bapti
Page 36 and 37: to save them from "the wrath to com
Page 38 and 39: aptism—for mature youth and adult
Page 40 and 41: purpose of a rite of maturity is to
Page 44 and 45: 31. John Wesley, Works, X: 151. 32.
Page 46 and 47: In Baptismal Covenant I, in the "In
Page 48 and 49: of God without being born of water
Page 50 and 51: they urged a stronger claim for a p
Page 52 and 53: After analyzing how American Method
Page 54 and 55: eferred to as "a symbol of an inner
Page 56 and 57: of baptism is "the washing away the
Page 58 and 59: Although there is only scant likeli
Page 60 and 61: ut the inner man, where we have put
Page 62 and 63: Notes 1. Lawrence Hull Stookey, "Th
Page 64 and 65: 44. Borgen, 159f.; Stein, 319, f, 1
Page 66 and 67: I am not a liturgical scholar or pr
Page 68 and 69: ounden duty...to consecrate our chi
Page 70 and 71: formed in the gospel not only by le
Page 72 and 73: life, for one could always lose gra
Page 74 and 75: However, I have focused on human ac
Page 76 and 77: Osborne, Kenan B. The Christian Sac
Page 78 and 79: It was raining pretty hard one Satu
Page 80 and 81: the same time a young man came to s
Page 82 and 83: theologically unpacked. A pastoral
Page 84 and 85: Elizabeth Achtemeier's Preaching fr
Page 86 and 87: prophets by the traditions of ancie
Page 88 and 89: eading; it seems as if one is heari
Page 90 and 91: Brueggemann's discussion of royal v
Page 92 and 93:
limitations, even in quite valuable
Page 95 and 96:
M. Eugene Boring Interpreting 1 Pet
Page 97 and 98:
particular way. The particularity o
Page 99 and 100:
in the capital of the empire felt m
Page 101 and 102:
location but about the way we relat
Page 103 and 104:
answer: Read. Interpret. Examine. B
Page 105 and 106:
in liturgical settings. Yet all of
Page 107 and 108:
word accomplished by Jesus, who cal
Page 109 and 110:
community that does what priests do
Page 111 and 112:
kings, slavery as a divinely author
Page 113 and 114:
wives and husbands. To each it migh
Page 115 and 116:
etained some of the oral style appr
Page 117 and 118:
Brox, Norbert. Der erste Petrusbrie
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TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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