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BAPTISM
Baptism of Christ
by Meister von Daphni Baptism is religious ceremony in which a person is dipped or submerged in or sprinkled with water as a sign of being cleansed of sin and admission to a church faith community. Many Christian regard as the most important sacrament — one that is necessary to get into heaven
Through baptism people are accepted into the church and receive the grace (or power) of Christ by saying certain vows and being doused with water, perhaps followed by the laying on of hands, by a influential member of the religious community. The first of the sacraments, baptism signifies the entering of a new life — a second birth so to speak — in which the individual will one day die but be able to transcend death. It also marks the initiation of the individual into the church community and the Christian way of life. The water symbolizes the washing away of sins and purification.
Baptism comes from the Greek verb “baptao” or “baptizo”, meaning “to plunge.” Sometimes the people who are baptized are completely submerged in a river or lake or special pool or basin (known as a “font” ) within a church. The most significant form in the Catholic church is the triple immersion, complete submersion with the words: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.” Sometimes those baptized are simply sprinkled with Holy water or have it poured on their head (ablution).
Baptism is the entrance point into Christianity for every denomination and has been practiced for nearly two millennia by Christians across the globe. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Despite their many differences of opinion, the centrality of baptism for membership in the Christian community is something that all modern Christians agree upon. They believe that at baptism their sins are forgiven, they die to their old lives and are reborn in Christ.Pope Francis said in September 2021, the day of our baptism “is the day on which we were saved, it is the day on which we became children of God.” Without it, Dante and many modern evangelicals have said, say, you can not enter heaven and destined to go to hell. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, February 21, 2016; March 21, 2022]
Websites and Resources on Christianity BBC on Christianity bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity ; Candida Moss at the Daily Beast Daily Beast Christian Answers christiananswers.net ; Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org ; Sacred Texts website sacred-texts.com ; Internet Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Christian Denominations: Holy See w2.vatican.va ; Catholic Online catholic.org ; Catholic Encyclopedia newadvent.org ; World Council of Churches, main world body for mainline Protestant churches oikoumene.org ; Online Orthodox Catechism published by the Russian Orthodox Church orthodoxeurope.org
Baptism Practices
The Christian church believes in one baptism into the Christian church, whether this be as an infant or as an adult, as an outward sign of an inward commitment to the teachings of Jesus. Sometimes a baptism takes place when a person is a baby. This is done to prepare a child for a religious upbringing. The adults who say the infant’s vows become the child’s godparents. Other times people are baptized when they are older. This usually occurs to converts. The infant baptisms usually occur to people born into the religion.
Baptism is first rite sacrament and the first rite of passage for Catholics and Orthodox Christian. It occurs soon after birth and since it is a sign that a person belongs to Christ and is a Christian, the ceremony is also called a christening. An official of the church, such as a priest or minister, carries out the ceremony, while saying "I Baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This service is attended by friends and family and by persons chosen by the parents to be godparents, who promise to help raise the child as a Christian. [Source: Encyclopedia.com]
Catholic baptism There are many different baptism rituals. One described in a forth century liturgy and held on the night before Easter went like this: the candidates assembled in chamber of the baptistery, where facing West they renounced Satan and facing East they declared their bond with Christ. After taking off their clothes they were anointed with oil to exorcize evil spirits and then were immersed three times, symboling the three days between Christ’s death and resurrection, in the font in water blessed by a bishop. The candidates were asked questions relating to their faith in the Trinity and a bishop laid hands on them. The ritual ended when the candidates were dressed in white robes and were escorted to the church altar for their first Eucharist.
For Orthodox Christians, the whole body is immersed in water that has been previously blessed by special prayers. Orthodox Christians look down on the Catholic act of just pouring water on the person being baptized. Orthodox baptism represents the inclusion of a newly born Christian into the community of believers. In some Protestant traditions, children are not baptized until their parents and other church members feel they are old enough to understand the commitment they are making in the ceremony.
During medieval baptisms, salt was placed on the infant's forehead, chest, right hand and mouth and the devil was exorcized from the body with a series of prayers. To open the child to god, the priest spit on his left hand and touched the infants ears and nose with his saliva.
Religious Basis of Baptism
Baptism is regarded as a command of Christ and the most important sacrament. It was done before Christ, and is associated with John Baptist who preceded Jesus. When Gentiles adopted Judaism they were baptized because they were impure, and then circumcised. Jesus was baptized by John Baptist before he launched his career as teacher and miracle worker. He ordered his disciples to baptize all people.
As a ritual of initiation, baptism marks the transition from unbelief to faith, from sin to repentance, from death to life, and from the world to the church. Almost all Christian groups agree on its centrality. From an early period the ritual was performed with water and the three-fold formula "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). In the Acts of the Apostles, there are references to baptism "in the name of Jesus," which has led some Pentecostals to use only Jesus's name. With this exception, baptism is universally performed in the name of the Trinity. [Source: Michael J. McClymond, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, 2000s, Encyclopedia.com]
Baptism is sometimes viewed as a spiritual circumcision in which a person is initiated into the Christian community by performing an act that symbolizes the Covenant with God. “Ye were also circumcised with the putting of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism” (Colossians ii, 11-12). It is also viewed as means by which an individual becomes acquainted with the Holy Spirit (so “ye are a temple of God, and Spirit of God dwelleth in you, Corinthians xiii, 14).
Baptism, Pope Benedict XVI wrote “is different from the usual religious ablutions. It cannot be repeated, and its is meant to be the concrete enactment of conversion that gives the whole of life a new direction forever. It is connected with an ardent call to a new way of thinking and acting, but above all with the proclamation of God’s judgment...descending into the water the candidates for baptism confess their sin and seek to be rid of the burden of guilt. What did Jesus do in this same situation? Luke...tells us that Jesus was praying while he received Baptism.”
John the Baptist
John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci
John the Baptist gave us baptism. He was one of the most popular religious leaders in the time of Jesus. Widely viewed today as a kind of precursor to Jesus, he was selected to perform the work of Isaiah and go out into the wilderness and "prepare ye the ways of the Lord: make his paths straight." Said to be a cousin of Jesus, John the Baptist was a Jewish version of an ascetic holy man. He wore animal skins and camel leather and survived in the wilderness on nothing but locusts and honey. According to early Christian sources he was born and lived most of his early life in Ain Karim. He likely spent time with the Essenes.
John the Baptist is mentioned in the Gospels and by the Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. While the Bible paints John as an apocalyptic prophet and religious reformer, Josephus emphasizes John’s popularity with the people and role as a political agitator. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, January 10, 2021]
Professor L. Michael White told PBS: “Our knowledge of the figure of John the Baptist is very limited. We have only those references to him in the Christian gospels, where he stands alongside of Jesus. We also have references to him in the Jewish historian, Josephus, who was writing toward the end of the first century. So John the Baptist is clearly a very important figure of the time. He was a renowned kind of eccentric, it appears, from the way that Josephus describes him. But he seems to have this quality of a kind of prophetic figure ... one who was calling for change. So he is usually thought of as being off in the desert wearing unusual clothes ... a kind of ascetic, almost. But what he is really is a critic of society, of worldliness, who seems to be calling for a change in religious life. But I think we have to think of John the Baptist primarily as one who was calling for a return to an intensely Jewish piety ... to follow the way of the Lord ... to make oneself pure ... to be right with God. [Source: L. Michael White, Professor of Classics and Director of the Religious Studies Program University of Texas at Austin, Frontline, PBS, April 1998]
See Separate Article: JOHN THE BAPTIST: HIS LIFE, TEACHINGS, JESUS AND BEHEADING factsanddetails.com
Baptism in the 4th Century
Egeria wrote in the A.D. 380s: “The Inscribing of the Competents: XLV Moreover, I must write how they are taught who are baptised at Easter. Now he who gives in his name, gives it in on the day before Quadragesima, and the priest writes down the names of all; this is before the eight weeks which I have said are kept here at Quadragesima. [Source: “Egeria's Description of the Liturgical Year in Jerusalem” based on the translation reproduced in Louis Duchesme's Christian Worship (London, 1923), published online by Michael Fraser, Department of Theology, University of Durham. June 1994, users.ox.ac.uk ]
“2. And when the priest has written down the names of all, after the next day of Quadragesima, that is, on the day when the eight weeks begin, the chair is set for the bishop in the midst of the great church, that is, at the martyrium, and the priests sit in chairs on either side of him, while all the clergy stand. Then one by one the competents are brought up, coming, if they are males (viri) with their fathers, and if females (feminae), with their mothers.
“3. Then the bishop asks the neighbours of every one who has entered concerning each individual, saying: "Does this person lead a good life, is he obedient to his parents, is he not given to wine, nor deceitful?" making also inquiry about the several vices which are more serious in man.
“4. And if he has proved him in the presence of witnesses to be blameless in all these matters concerning which he has made inquiry, he writes down his name with his own hand. But if he is accused in any matter, he orders him to go out, saying: " Let him amend, and when he has amended then -let him come to the font (lavacrum)." And as he makes inquiry concerning the men, so also does he concerning the women. But if any be a stranger, he comes not so easily to Baptism, unless he has testimonials from those who know him.
Preparation for Baptism: Catechisings in the 4th Century
Greek Orthodox Baptism Egeria wrote in the A.D. 380s: “XLVI This also I must write, reverend sisters, lest you should think that these things are done without good reason. The custom here is that they who come to Baptism through those forty days, which are kept as fast days, are first exorcised by the clergy early in the day, as soon as the morning dismissal has been made in the Anastasis. Immediately afterwards the chair is placed for the bishop at the martyrium in the great church, and all who are to be baptised sit around, near the bishop, both men and women, their fathers and mothers standing there also. Besides these, all the people who wish to hear come in and sit down--the faithful however only. [Source: “Egeria's Description of the Liturgical Year in Jerusalem” based on the translation reproduced in Louis Duchesme's Christian Worship (London, 1923), published online by Michael Fraser, Department of Theology, University of Durham. June 1994, users.ox.ac.uk ]
“2. No catechumen enters there when the bishop teaches the others the Law. Beginning from Genesis he goes through all the Scriptures during those forty days, explaining them, first literally, and then unfolding them spiritually. They are also taught about the Resurrection, and likewise all things concerning the Faith during those days. And this is called the catechising.
Baptism Defined in 1439 as a Sacrament
According to The Decree for the Armenians, Council of Florence 1439: “Holy baptism holds the first place among all the sacraments because it is the gate of spiritual life, for by it we are made members of Christ and of the body of the Church. Since through the first man death entered into the world [cf. Rom 5:12] , unless we are born again of water, and of the spirit, we cannot, so saith Truth, enter into the kingdom of heaven [cf. John 3:5].
The material of this sacrament is water, real and natural ―― it matters nothing whether it be cold or warm. Now the form is: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." {rest added from Neusner-Dupuis} or "By my hand N. is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". For as the principal cause from which Baptism derives its virtue is the Holy Trinity, while the instrumental cause is the minister who confers the sacrament externally, the sacrament is performed whenever the act carried out by the minister is expressed along with the invocation of the Holy Trinity. [Source: James Harvey Robinson, ed., Readings in European History: Vol. I: (Boston:: Ginn and co., 1904), 348―54, = Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion, 1310-27, sourcebooks.fordham.edu ]
“The ministrant of this sacrament is the priest, for baptism belongs to his office. But in case of necessity not only a priest or deacon may baptize, but a layman or a woman ― nay, even a pagan or a heretic, provided be use the form of the Church and intend to do what the Church effects. The efficacy of this sacrament is the remission of all sin, original sin and actual, and of all penalties incurred through this guilt. Therefore no satisfaction for past sin should be imposed on those who are baptized ; but if they die before they commit any sin, they shall straightway attain the kingdom of heaven and the sight of God.
Controversies Surrounding Baptism
Submersion baptism in Chile Over the centuries, a number of disputes and issues have arisen in regards to baptism. Michael J. McClymond wrote in the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”:One concerns the mode — that is, whether the proper procedure involves the sprinkling of water, pouring, or full immersion. The New Testament provides no detailed description of the ritual, and early church teaching seems flexible on the matter. In modern times Baptists and certain revivalistic groups have been concerned with the issue, with some regarding baptism as invalid unless performed by full immersion. [Source: Michael J. McClymond, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, 2000s, Encyclopedia.com]
An especially divisive issue is whether infants can receive baptism. Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and many traditional Protestant groups practice infant baptism, while Baptists, nondenominational Christians, and Pentecostals prefer adult, or "believer's," baptism. They argue that New Testament baptism required a profession of faith, which an infant cannot supply. Catholics, the Orthodox, and some Anglicans teach that baptism confers grace ("baptismal regeneration") apart from any conscious response to God. Traditional Catholic theology asserted that baptism is necessary to remove the guilt of original sin and that unbaptized persons cannot therefore be saved. Luther defended infant baptism by appealing to an infant faith implicit in the child, and he also invoked the parent's or church's faith as standing in for the recipient's. Calvinists, including Presbyterians, think of the church as a covenant community in which baptism is an outward mark of belonging though not a guarantee of final salvation. Such Protestants link baptism to faith and yet allow for the baptism of infants.
Another issue concerns the validity of a prior baptism when a person moves from one Christian group to another. Following Augustine, Roman Catholicism holds that all baptisms done in the name of the Holy Trinity are valid if performed with genuine intent. Thus, a Protestant baptized as an infant is not rebaptized. Protestants, however, have mixed views on the matter. Some rebaptize members who come from Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or even from other Protestant groups, while others do not. Orthodoxy generally opposes such rebaptisms. Baptists and others who do not recognize the validity of infant baptisms tend to perform adult rebaptisms.
During the first several centuries Christians initiated new members, who were adults, through a process of catechesis (instruction in the faith) followed by a period of fasting, a ritual of exorcism, and baptism, together with an anointing with oil (chrismation) and the laying on of hands. In later centuries the ritual of anointing and the laying on of hands became separated from baptism, and from the 400s the Roman Catholic church began to teach that only bishops could perform the postbaptismal anointing. Thus, confirmation, originally part of the baptism ritual, became a separate sacrament. By contrast, Orthodoxy administers an anointing with oil and a first Communion to an infant at the time of baptism. Those Protestants who practice confirmation typically focus on doctrinal instruction in the faith for teenagers, while Catholics offer confirmation in late childhood.
Does Baptism Actually Signify Marriage to Jesus
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: In his book, The World’s Oldest Church, Fordham Associate Professor Michael Peppard examines the iconography from the walls that adorned the earliest surviving Christian church, from Dura-Europos in Syria. The walls of the baptistery were adorned with biblically inspired artwork, including a depiction of a woman drawing water from a well. Traditionally, scholars have thought that the woman is meant to be the Samaritan woman who engages Jesus in conversation at a well in John 4. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, February 21, 2016]
But in his analysis of the artwork, Peppard, following and expanding on the work of theologian Dominic Serra, Associate Professor of Liturgy-Sacramental Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., whose recent research projects have been in the area of Christian Initiation and is currently writing a book on early Roman baptismal practice and theology. Peppard argues that scholars have misread the scene. He suggests that the woman is actually Mary, the mother of Jesus. Not only would this be the earliest, albeit somewhat blurry, portrait of the Virgin Mary, but Peppard argues, her presence at the scene changes our understanding of what is taking place at baptism. Peppard calls the art gallery’s interpretation “certainly plausible,” but he notes that the Samaritan woman is usually shown in conversation with Jesus, not alone as she is depicted in the wall painting.
Peppard cites a description of the Annunciation in a second-century biography of Mary’s early life in which Gabriel interrupts Mary as she is drawing water with a pitcher. He argues that Byzantine images of the scene closely resemble the image from Dura-Europos. So what does any of this have to do with baptism? Just this. Peppard believes that Mary and the other biblical figures present at the baptistery evoke a kind of wedding scene. As a neophyte (a Christian initiate) would pass through the space, he or she would see the paintings and understand the baptismal ritual in marital terms. What this means is that baptism has not always been seen as the washing away of sins or of death and rebirth; for newly minted Christians at Dura-Europos, baptism was a kind of marriage to Jesus the Christ. This is not just a more upbeat take on the purpose of baptism; it also suggests a different kind of intimacy with Jesus. Peppard’s hypothesis certainly changes how we think about baptism. Lisa Brody, the gallery’s associate curator of ancient art, said that Peppard’s argument is solid. “I’m interested to hear what other scholars of early Christian iconography will say, but his argument is convincing,” she said. “It’s certainly plausible, and I don’t have any quarrel with it.”
Priest Botched Thousands of Baptisms — by Changing One Word
In February 2022, a priest in Arizona resigned after it was revealed that he incorrectly performed baptisms for decades, possibly undermining the rite for thousands of people. Marina Pitofsky wrote in USA TODAY: “The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix on its website confirmed Fr. Andres Arango used the words “we baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit,” instead of the correct phrase “I baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit” in English and Spanish.[Source: Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY, February 15, 2022]
The diocese explained that the single incorrect word matters for worshippers because “it is not the community that baptizes a person and incorporates them into the Church of Christ; rather, it is Christ, and Christ alone, who presides at all sacraments.” “Therefore, it is Christ who baptizes,” the diocese said. “If you were baptized using the wrong words, that means your baptism is invalid, and you are not baptized.” And shrugging off the invalid baptisms isn’t an option for many worshippers, because it affects sacred practices for Catholics such as confirmation, communion and more. The Diocese of Phoenix said the confusion could also affect marriages.
Arango has resigned as pastor of St. Gregory Parish in Phoenix. “I deeply regret my error and how this has affected numerous people in your parish and elsewhere,” he said in a statement. “With the help of the Holy Spirit and in communion with the Diocese of Phoenix, I will dedicate my energy and full time ministry to help remedy this and heal those affected.”
“Arango has served as a pastor, parochial administrator, parochial vicar and other religious roles for more than 20 years in Brazil, California and Arizona. All of the baptisms he performed “until June 17, 2021, are presumed invalid,” the Diocese of Phoenix said. “The diocese confirmed to USA TODAY that "the number of baptisms Father Arango has performed in his priestly ministry" is in the thousands.
Why Such a Big Deal Was Made About the Botched Baptisms
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: It's not an accident, however, that when it comes to sacramental malpractice, baptism is the sacrament that, historically speaking, attracts the most attention. Matthew Gabriele, a professor of medieval studies at Virginia Tech and co-author of the beautifully written book The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, told me “The obsession over single words/phrases does have a long history and is especially important when it’s tied to sacraments (such as baptism) because the performance of the ritual in a specific way is thought to make the divine present in the world.” [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, February 18, 2022]
Gabriele explained that sacramental language is “kind of like a spreadsheet formula, in that precise wording is absolutely vital for you to get the result you want. So, following this way of thinking, although the substitution of “we” for “I” might seem relatively minor, that word changes the ritual itself.” We might think of it as entering a password into a computer. If you forget to capitalize a letter the “word” may be correct, but the password won’t work because they aren’t the same.
The anxiety is heightened because of the importance of priestly authority. “Compounding this concern,” said Gabriele, “is that in (modern) Catholic thinking, and going back at least through the 4th Lateran Council in 1215 CE (and to some greater or lesser extent before that), the priest was the sole conduit for the divine here on earth. If he messes up the ritual, the baptism doesn’t happen, original sin isn’t wiped away, and the child isn’t formally admitted to the Church as a community and therefore in jeopardy for their salvation.”
The Diocese of Phoenix, agrees. Because baptism is the gateway into the Roman Catholic faith the stakes are particularly high: an invalid baptism invalidates subsequent sacraments. And, as Gabriele notes, the person continues in a state of original sin. If the pope could simply waive his hand and forgive original sin for those who were mis-baptized, then one hopes he would do that for everyone on the planet, not just this group of Christians.
At stake here is also the identity and unity of the church. “Since antiquity,” said Gabriele “[baptism] has been a particularly important ritual within the Church, a way of delineating who is within the Church and can be saved and who can’t.” The Donatist schism in fourth-century North Africa, for example, centered on whether the priests who had colluded with the Roman authorities during the Great Persecution had invalidated their office and lost the Holy Spirit. If, as the Donatists believed, they had, then all of those baptized by the now spiritually impotent priests had to be re-baptized. The resulting debate decided that authority rested on the ritual itself not the moral status of the individual priest. The rest, as they say, is history.
Baptism for the Dead
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Tucked away in one of the Bible’s most well-worn passages is a reference to “Baptism for the Dead.” In a passage about resurrection in 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul argues that of course people must have a bodily afterlife because if they don’t get resurrected why do people perform baptism for the dead? (1 Cor 15:29). Paul isn’t necessarily endorsing the position but his reference to the practice suggests that something curious was going on. Today “regular” baptism involves not just immersion in water or the trickling water on the forehead, but also some kind of assent or confession of belief. That assent is provided either by the person themselves or, if they are too young, by a child’s parents or godparents. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, March 21, 2022]
In the early church baptism was more exclusive. Admission into full participation in the Christian community entailed meeting some high standards and completing an initiation program known today as catechism. In the early church, the period of preparation was lengthy and required the modification of one’s lifestyle. Ideally a person would be admitted into full membership in the church after three years of preparation, an exorcism, and an all-night vigil. How does a dead person do any of this? Is it some kind of funerary ritual? An errant scene from Weekend at Bernie’s that ended up on the cutting room floor? It’s confusing.
Other than these somewhat exceptional examples we know a bit more about post-mortem baptism from the heresiologists who condemn it. Relatively quickly, baptism for the dead becomes stigmatized by the groups that become orthodox. They associate baptism with schismatic or heretical groups like the followers Montanus (a charismatic who practiced dream incubation and allowed women prophets), Marcion (a Roman teacher who did not use the Hebrew Bible), and Cerinthus (who believed that the resurrection would be a gastronomic and sexual orgy).
We don’t actually know if these groups did practice vicarious baptism for the dead, but the descriptions are eye-opening. John Chrysostom the Bishop of Antioch claims that when a catechumen died before receiving baptism the Marcionites would have a living person hide under the body and answer baptismal questions for the dead. They would subsequently be baptized on their behalf. This makes sense: if hiding under a dead body playing ventriloquist doesn’t make you want to take a bath, what will? His rough contemporary Filaster, Bishop of Brescia in Northern Italy, says that the Montanists didn’t practice vicarious baptism but instead baptized the dead directly. This sounds like a modified funeral ritual.
Taking an entirely different approach, Valentinian Gnostics apparently read 1 Cor. 15:29 as a reference to angels being baptized vicariously on our behalf so that we could become like angels through our own baptism. Most ancient interpreters, however, took the more mundane view that “Baptism of the Dead” is a reference to our own living-and-breathing but spiritually dead bodies, which become alive through baptism.
Vicarious Baptism of Living Christians on Behalf of the Dead
Dave Lincicum, a professor at the University of Notre Dame told the Daily Beast that 1 Corinthians 15 is the “lone sighting” of postmortem baptism in the New Testament. It has interpreters scratching their heads. The most likely option, said Lincicum, is that the passage refers to the vicarious baptism of a live Christian on behalf of those who had died. The reason it was performed, said Lincicum, is a desire to help loved ones: “Recent gentile converts taken with the early Jesus movement and its salvific benefits wanted to extend those perceived benefits to their dead family and friends and found a way to do that in being baptized on behalf of them.” [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, March 21, 2022]
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: In a fascinating article on the subject published in Apocrypha, Lincicum argues that the second century text the Acts of Paul and Thecla contains an example of vicarious baptism. According to the story, Thecla, a respectably engaged aristocrat, falls for the mental charms and ascetic message of the comparably blue-collar Apostle Paul. In the story Thecla puts off her baptism until the last possible moment. She is sent to the arena at Antioch to die at the paws of wild beasts but baptizes herself in “the name of Jesus Christ” by diving into a pool of ravenous man-eating seals (why, yes, you did read that correctly and, yes, swimming with seals sounds like something VIPs do at SeaWorld. But I digress).
It’s clearly a scene of self-baptism, which ruffles the feathers of later generations of male commentators, but it may also be something else. Lincicum notes that the story is intermingled with that of a wealthy but righteous woman named Tryphaena, whose daughter Falconilla had died some time before. He told me that earlier in the story “Falconilla appeared to her mother in a dream and named Thecla as a substitute (‘in my place’).” The point was that Thecla would pray for Falconilla and Falconilla would hopefully be translated into the place of the righteous. “Tryphaena consented and confirmed that Thecla would be this substitute by calling her ‘my second child.’” Crucially though, we only learn that the prayer works after Thecla’s auto-baptism. It’s then that Tryphaena proclaims that her child lives. Of course, she does mean Thecla who miraculously exits the arena alive, but the story also suggests that the baptism works for Falconilla. You might call it a two-fer.
That someone would write this kind of story isn’t just a sign that people practiced baptism for the dead it also shows how beguiling the reference in 1 Corinthians was to even ancient readers. “The throwaway line about a 'baptism for the dead',” said Lincicum, “is begging for an apocryphal interpretation, and I think [the] author [of the Acts of Paul and Thecla] has given it just that - in a sense also taming it, by portraying it as an exceptional practice connected to the arena and martyrdom.”
Proxy Baptism Among Mormons
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: The only Christ-believing group to interpret 1 Corinthians 15 as a license to practice proxy baptism today is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormonism). In Mormon theology this baptism of the dead is understood as an act of love for deceased family members, but it does not necessarily confer salvation on the deceased. The dead person residing in spirit prison must consent to their baptism for it to be efficacious. The practice has not been without controversy as posthumous baptism is not limited to immediate family members. The practice of baptizing Holocaust victims drew wide ranging criticism in the 1990s and in 2012 the Church had to apologize when it was revealed that it had baptized Anne Frank. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, March 21, 2022]
Safeguards to prevent the posthumous baptism of Holocaust victims have been put in place, but it’s clear that young members of the Church in particular enjoy being baptized on behalf of history’s celebrities and celebrity adjacent. Marilyn Monroe, Carrie Fisher, the grandparents of Donald Trump and Steven Spielberg, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II (and, presumably, now also Prince Philip) have all been baptized by proxy. Church authorities blocked attempts to baptize mass murderers Charles Manson and Stephen Paddock.
In mainstream Christianity, people usually only choose to skirt the rules about post-mortem baptism in the most heart-wrenching of circumstances. Stories about this often relate to the deaths of infants. A study of medieval miracle stories to do with pregnancy and childbirth described by medievalist Barbara Newman found that most prayers for stillborn children were for a baptismal reprieve rather than revivification. These miracles usually play by the book: The infant briefly opens its eyes, some water is splashed, a quick prayer delivered, and the child dies. Parents can take comfort in the knowledge that at least their child can go to heaven.
The tragic circumstances in which people perform baptism for the dead reveals its relatable central core: It’s about metabolizing grief. It not only reassures people that their deceased loved ones are spiritually safe it also helps assuage the helplessness of loss. After the death of a loved one, when all the funeral arrangements and rituals are complete, possession are packed away, and nothing but memories remain, there is nothing left to do. Baptizing loved ones provides a positive (if arguably heretical) outlet for those feelings of helplessness. It’s an active form of prayer that is psychically valuable for the living, if not the dead.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources:Internet Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File); “ Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org; New International Version (NIV) of The Bible, biblegateway.com; Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ccel.org , Frontline, PBS, Wikipedia, BBC, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Live Science, Encyclopedia.com, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, Business Insider, AFP, Library of Congress, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Last updated March 2024