Baptism Superstitions And The Supernatural

Baptism, Superstitions, and the Supernatural by Rev. Dr. Lesley G. Anderson is a book uniquely, and unquestionably, one of the most informative and remarkable of its type. The sacrament of baptism is undoubtedly to this day an exceedingly controversial sacrament of the Christian Church. The continuing differing debates, arguments, and views about adult (believers’) versus infant baptism are examined. Superstitions and the supernatural associated with this sacrament are given adequate attention in addition to the many other informative factors relating to this sacrament. Further, this sacrament is examined as a scriptural, psychological, theological, and social reality. The introduction of baptism as a liturgical phenomenon highlights the educational quality of this book as it takes the reader into the interesting and fascinating areas of baptism of blood, baptism by fire, baptism of the dead, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and baptism in the name of Jesus only. In addition, this book brings to the fore an intrinsic excitement and understanding about the symbols and symbolisms, images and mysteries, signs and wonders associated with this sacrament. The role of the Holy Spirit and the centrality of Jesus in the baptismal act are of importance recognized. If symbolically baptism means dying to sin and rising to new life with Christ, does this apply only to adult believers? This book explores the question against the background of research conducted in the Central American country of Belize that unearthed the views and beliefs of laypersons. The reach of the work extends beyond Belize, and Methodist traditions are compared with contrasting beliefs and practices of other denominations. Popular superstitions associated with baptism are also explored as well as the impact of African cultural practices on Christian theology in the lived experience of Caribbean peoples. Although this research was conducted in Belize, it is borderless and boundless. Of vital interest is the exploration of this sacrament in African religious beliefs and cultural practices. According to Professor Neville Duncan, former director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, the book is “theologically and sociologically stimulating...while written from the Methodist perspective...the issues raised will resonate with all Christian denominations.” All denominations noted in this book are given their due respect regardless of their beliefs and/or baptismal practices.

Under the guidance of the leading experts on baptismal fonts and the co-directors of the Baptisteria Sacra Index, the world?s only iconographical inventory of baptismal fonts, a research project at the University of Toronto, this collection of essays by a group of European and North American scholars extends the traditional boundaries associated with the study of baptismal fonts. The ?visual? is privileged, whether it is in the metaphysical, literary or empirical realms of scholarship, offering a rich understanding of the powerful role of baptism played in medieval and renaissance society. In the quest for a holistic understanding of the vessels, the settings and contexts, the rituals and the spiritual significance of the font, itself, the contributors have turned to a range of sources, folkloric tales, baptismal records, liturgical sermons, civic records, literary accounts, hagiographies and historical documents about local families, communities and ecclesiastical developments. Previous scholarship about baptismal fonts has often focused on the purely stylistic, iconographical and liturgical perspectives, using primarily ecclesiastical and liturgical documentation. This collection of essays shows the wealth of new information that baptismal fonts can offer when scholars adopt interdisciplinary approaches and engage in readings that question traditional assumptions inherited in scholarship.

How do sacraments differ from superstition? For Enlightenment philosophers such as Kant, both are merely natural actions claiming a supernatural effect, an accusation that has long been ignored in Catholic theology. In Maurice Blondel on the Supernatural in Human Action: Sacrament and Superstition, however, Cathal Doherty SJ reverses this accusation through a theological appropriation of Blondel's philosophy of action, arguing not only that sacraments have no truck with superstition but that the 'Enlightened' are themselves guilty of that which they most abhor, superstitious action. Doherty then uses Blondel's philosophical insights as a heuristic and corrective to putative sacramental theologies that would reduce the spiritual or supernatural efficacy of sacraments to the mere human effort of perception or symbolic interpretation.

This book describes the sociocultural context that shaped Christian initiation for many early Jamaican congregants within the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Christian initiation in early-twentieth-century Jamaican AME churches included the practice of two water rituals for children within most of its congregations—first, the christening or sprinkling of water on infants, and second, immersion when the child reached the age of consent and made a public confession of faith. The ambiguity of John Wesley’s doctrine and practice of the sacrament of baptism are provided with the cultural milieu of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Jamaica to allow the reader to calmly consider the spectrum of evidence—and consider how the use of two water rituals became normative for many disciples of Christ to become full members within the early AME Church in Jamaica.

Demonologist Dwayne Claud takes you into the shadows of the dark side of paranormal investigation with accounts of actual cases.

Fresh From the Word: The Bible for a Change will inspire your reading of the Bible in a changing world. Bringing together top theologians and biblical scholars, creative writers from around the world, cutting-edge church leaders, activists for peace and justice and a range of others, Fresh From the Word offers 366 sets of notes, prayers and suggestions for action on biblical themes. This fresh approach to Bible reading is aimed at new readers of the Bible from across the church, as well as anyone seeking a faithful, creative and challenging conversation with the Bible every day of the year.

In spite of an upsurge in interest in the social history of the Catholic community and an ever-growing body of literature on early modern 'superstition' and popular religion, the English Catholic community's response to the invisible world of the preternatural and supernatural has remained largely neglected. Addressing this oversight, this book explores Catholic responses to the supernatural world, setting the English Catholic community in the contexts of the wider Counter-Reformation and the confessional culture of early modern England. In so doing, it fulfils the need for a study of how English Catholics related to manifestations of the devil (witchcraft and possession) and the dead (ghosts) in the context of Catholic attitudes to the supernatural world as a whole (including debates on miracles). The study further provides a comprehensive examination of the ways in which English Catholics deployed exorcism, the church's ultimate response to the devil. Whilst some aspects of the Catholic response have been touched on in the course of broader studies, few scholars have gone beyond the evidence contained within anti-Catholic polemical literature to examine in detail what Catholics themselves said and thought. Given that Catholics were consistently portrayed as 'superstitious' in Protestant literature, the historian must attend to Catholic voices on the supernatural in order to avoid a disastrously unbalanced view of Catholic attitudes. This book provides the first analysis of the Catholic response to the supernatural and witchcraft and how it related to a characteristic Counter-Reformation preoccupation, the phenomenon of exorcism.

In spite of an upsurge in interest in the social history of the Catholic community and an ever-growing body of literature on early modern 'superstition' and popular religion, the English Catholic community's response to the invisible world of the preternatural and supernatural has remained largely neglected. Addressing this oversight, this book explores Catholic responses to the supernatural world, setting the English Catholic community in the contexts of the wider Counter-Reformation and the confessional culture of early modern England. In so doing, it fulfils the need for a study of how English Catholics related to manifestations of the devil (witchcraft and possession) and the dead (ghosts) in the context of Catholic attitudes to the supernatural world as a whole (including debates on miracles). The study further provides a comprehensive examination of the ways in which English Catholics deployed exorcism, the church's ultimate response to the devil. Whilst some aspects of the Catholic response have been touched on in the course of broader studies, few scholars have gone beyond the evidence contained within anti-Catholic polemical literature to examine in detail what Catholics themselves said and thought. Given that Catholics were consistently portrayed as 'superstitious' in Protestant literature, the historian must attend to Catholic voices on the supernatural in order to avoid a disastrously unbalanced view of Catholic attitudes. This book provides the first analysis of the Catholic response to the supernatural and witchcraft and how it related to a characteristic Counter-Reformation preoccupation, the phenomenon of exorcism.

Bible Proof: Every Real Christian Needs the Real Baptism with the Holy Spirit & POWER A Scriptural Perspective! In this book you will receive Bible proof that receiving the "gift of the Holy Spirit" is separate from receiving "the gift of eternal life". It will also make it clear why those who have not yet received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues cannot possibly comprehend nor believe in the same supernatural faith the same way that the early church believed it, while those who have received, believe it all in its entirety exactly as it is written in the Bible. - Every REAL Christian needs this! Don't miss out on this wonderful gift from God. The Baptism with the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues will enable you to understand the New Testament with all the workings of the Holy Ghost as a present day reality. Ted Rouse has been a diligent student of the Word since being supernaturally saved in 1976. He entered full time ministry in 1981. He has written 25 books and booklets and has personally prayed with thousands to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To inquire about the author speaking at your convention, revival, church, or ministry, please contact us at: 414-461-8770 or: www.faithscreation.org

During our brief and perilous journey ex irritum ad irritum, how are we to find, what the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (Sein und Zeit) would call, the true approach to being? How do we answer the question posed by the Apostle Thomas when he asked how can we know the way (Jn. 14:5)? In other words, how should we fill that parenthesis of infinitesimal brevity, which James Joyce (Ulysses) maintained, demarcates each of our lives? The Bible has often been put forth as a supposedly infallible guidebook charting the correct path to an authentic existence (e.g. 2 Tim. 3:16-17). According to its proponents, Scripture is an absolutely dependable life-manual because it is the word of God (Summa Theologica, First Part, Q. 1, Art. 10). However, close inspection of the Bible calls into question its divine authorship; and, thus, its reliability as an accurate roadmap for the soul. In fact, under close examination it proves to be nothing more than a mundane and cobbled together collection of archaic superstitions beginning with the outlandish speculations of Moses concerning the creation of the world and ending with the maniacal ravings of John regarding its destruction. Exposing the true nature of Holy Writ was the main purpose for writing Unholy Writ. The modus operandi for this expos involved a thoroughgoing critical analysis of Scripture. The results from such a careful consideration of its contents clearly demonstrated that any claim that the Bible is some sort of sacrosanct ethical vade mecum is completely invalid. Specifically, the multiple contradictions and absurdities contained in the Bible confer an unreliability upon it that undermines its function as a guide for anything, let alone as some sort of moral map for the journey through life. Furthermore, many of the ideas that are promoted in Holy Writ are actually spiritually harmful. In addition, unless the condoned misogyny, violence, intolerance, injustice, and cruelty can be removed, then it is difficult to view the Scriptures as anything like an unwavering celestial beacon that clearly lights the way through the moral fog that at times engulfs our lives. Moreover, the many errors that it contains, including those about the natural world, undermine the pivotal claim that the Bible is divinely inspired.