Kent has passed the blogger’s baton to me (Rhoda) for the month of July. Having just returned from travels in Europe (where Christianity is waning) and Ethiopia (where Christianity is flourishing), I’ll be sharing some of my pilgrimage experiences, reflecting on baptism, Christian formation, and the presence of Christ in and through the church now […]
Throughout the course over the last two years two issues have surfaced repeatedly: immediacy of baptism and implementation of the catechumenate. Some brief observations on both of those issues. Certainly, the desire for immediacy of baptism with adult candidates reflects the priority of the gospel and the gifts that God gives in baptism. We want […]
Two-thirds of the way through this half semester course—as students were preparing to make their presentations on various aspects of the catechumenate—the revelation popped into my head that I had used few experiential pedagogical elements in the course. What a sucker-punch self-critique of my pedagogy this was. Why? For at least two reasons, first because […]
“This course will examine how the church forms, catechizes, and incorporates adult Christians into the church and the fullness of the Christian life. It will give specific attention to the practice of adult faith formation, especially through the adult catechumenate, by (1) studying its ritual and theological origins and development, (2) examining contemporary catechumenal theology […]
In our last post on the 4th century mystagogical catecheses, Rhoda explored the multivalence of the kiss of peace and the Eucharistic liturgy. In this our truly final post on the Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation, I’ll explore the nature of communion, participation in the body and blood of Christ, as reflected in the mystagogues. Ambrose […]
A month ago, this email from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship landed in my email box, asking that I “help us spread the word about this opportunity.” It may be too late for our readers to consider applying for a grant that is due June 15, but it’s not too early to start the […]
As the end of our 50 days of Easter feasting approaches, we also are reaching the end of this series on fourth-century mystagogical catechesis. Today I (Rhoda) will share a few literary gems from Cyril of Jerusalem and Theodore of Mopsuetia on the Eucharist. First, the commentary of Theodore of Mopsuetia on the kiss of […]
In our last post on the 4th century mystagogical catecheses, Rhoda explored the enriching images grounded in Jesus’ own baptism: being anointed by the Spirit and chosen as God’s child. We were going to turn to the third part of the rites of initiation, the Eucharist, today. But I (Kent) can’t miss the opportunity to […]
Last week Kent wrote about the post-baptismal anointing in the West (with Ambrose as our source) and its ritual connection with the coming of the Holy Spirit. This week we’ll look at an earlier stratum of baptismal anointing from East Syrian and Armenian sources. In the 1970s liturgical scholar Gabriele Winkler broke new ground in […]
In our last post on the 4th century mystagogical catecheses I (Kent) mentioned that among the primary biblical images for baptism is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The patterns for pre-baptismal and post-baptismal anointings vary across regions (Rome had two post-baptismal anointings, other places only one pre-baptismal anointing). All of these anointings unpacked symbolically […]