Dissertation

The liturgies and theology of baptism, and their relationship with the issues of membership and christian initiation, in the methodist church denominations in the british isles in the period 1875-1975

Atkins, Martyn D

1990

Overview

This liturgical and historical study of Methodist baptismal theology from 1875 to 1975, pays particular interest to the relationship between baptism and Methodist membership, and latterly `Christian initiation'. Having received an ambiguous doctrine from John Wesley, and repudiated the doctrine of baptismal regeneration (regeneration being regarded an experiential not a sacramental reality) Methodists held several views about the significance and meaning of baptism in the later 19th century. Wesleyanism maintained a relatively broad doctrine which included a belief in (an often undefined) baptismal blessing; used several liturgies based on the Prayer Book tradition (as well as the Book itself), which were officially and unofficially altered and revised; and we restricted the right to administer the sacrament to members of the `clergy'. Non-Wesleyan Methodism generally possessed a `balder' doctrine, and rarely countenanced any baptismal `blessing'; used few written liturgies (the earliest being extemporary rites written down); certainly laypeople often administered the sacrament. By the early 20th century it can be said that there was a coalescence of doctrinal themes. Methodism regarded baptism a declaratory and dedicatory rite. `Baptism' invariably referred to infant baptism, the practice and defence of which was unquestioned; adult baptism was largely regarded to be the result of parental oversight. However it cannot be said that baptism was important to Methodism. It was a nicety of infancy, of ephemeral significance. Though declared to be admission to the visible Church, ensuing pastoral care, Christian teaching, later faith experiences, and admission into Methodist membership were not, for most Methodists, positively connected or related to baptism in any meaningful way. In the wake of Methodist Union in 1932 a `Baptismal Committee' produced a doctrinal statement on infant baptism and rites for infant and adult baptism. These appeared in the Methodist Book of Offices, 1936, and confirmed a dedicatory/declaratory understanding of the sacrament. A rite of `Reception of New Members' was also included in the Book. Significantly it was formulated by a different working party, the very title of the rite indicating that the Methodist view of initiation and membership lie elsewhere than baptism. Almost immediately after 1936, and for the following 25 years, criticisms of these rites were made and developments in baptismal theology affirmed in both official documents and informal writings. Armed with the insights of biblical theological studies of baptism, and more recently the Liturgical Movement and the influence of increasing ecumenical opportunity, Methodist writers corrected what they saw as an impoverished, subjective understanding of baptism. Paedobaptism was restated in the light of the `New Testament Baptism'; older baptismal themes were reintroduced to Methodism, often in amended form; `bald' declarations of baptism were increasingly redefined as `operative', `effective' declarations. The key declaration of baptism was the primacy of Divine, prevenient grace. All this combined to accord baptism a lasting significance, and this together with developments in the Methodist understanding of the Church, and the nature of membership of it (again due to insights gained from these theological, biblical and liturgical movements) enabled a concept of the ritualizing of initiation to germinate. The membership bestowed in baptism was affirmed, and with it a role for `confirmation'. The first opportunity for these developments to be made explicit in liturgical form was in rites begun in 1962, published for experimental use in 1967 and (in revised form) printed in the Methodist Service Book, 1975. These rites affirm many (but not all) these doctrinal developments; the peculiar Methodist emphasis upon prevenient grace as the foundation doctrine of baptism, the normative n

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Religious history