Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Christianity: Regional Developments
- Part II Christianity Contested
- Part III Christian Culture and Society
- Part IV Christian Beliefs and Practices
- 18 Discourse on the Trinity
- 19 History of Christology to the seventh century
- 20 Sin and salvation: Experiences and reflections
- 21 From Antioch to Arles: Lay devotion in context
- 22 Saints and holy men
- 23 Pastoral care and discipline
- 24 Sexuality, marriage and the family
- 25 The growth of liturgy and the church year
- 26 Interpreting scripture
- 27 Asceticism and monasticism, I: Eastern
- 28 Asceticism and monasticism, II: Western
- 29 Art and Propaganda fide: Christian art and architecture, 300–600
- Index
- Map 1 The Roman empire, c. 400">
- References
20 - Sin and salvation: Experiences and reflections
from Part IV - Christian Beliefs and Practices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Christianity: Regional Developments
- Part II Christianity Contested
- Part III Christian Culture and Society
- Part IV Christian Beliefs and Practices
- 18 Discourse on the Trinity
- 19 History of Christology to the seventh century
- 20 Sin and salvation: Experiences and reflections
- 21 From Antioch to Arles: Lay devotion in context
- 22 Saints and holy men
- 23 Pastoral care and discipline
- 24 Sexuality, marriage and the family
- 25 The growth of liturgy and the church year
- 26 Interpreting scripture
- 27 Asceticism and monasticism, I: Eastern
- 28 Asceticism and monasticism, II: Western
- 29 Art and Propaganda fide: Christian art and architecture, 300–600
- Index
- Map 1 The Roman empire, c. 400">
- References
Summary
‘The Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost’ (Luke 19.19): with this description of their Lord’s mission, Christians understandably came to regard salvation and sin as master themes for their lives. In fact, these themes are so pervasive that discussions of them take on as many forms as Christianity itself does. This near ubiquity makes it exceedingly difficult to appreciate the subject in a way that does justice to evidence from across the Mediterranean basin and Near East; in attempting to navigate through the wealth of information, it is very easy to adopt the categories of regional controversies and subsequently to ascribe universal significance to localised preoccupations. One way forward is to think about how Christians considered baptism (itself a practice that was comparably widespread), which was regarded as a vital step in the process of salvation and indeed as the font of Christian identity. In explaining, preparing for and celebrating this sacrament, Christians of all types were confronted in a powerful way with the dynamics of sin and salvation – and these experiences in turn shaped their habits of reflecting upon salvation. Baptism and the events surrounding it provide important evidence for how Christians during our period understood sin and the measures they took to deal with it, as well as how they conceived of salvation.
Records about early Christian views on baptism survive in a variety of forms, such as catechetical lectures, rites (and commentaries on them), pilgrims’ journals, hymns and letters. As for the former, the justly famous homilies of Cyril of Jerusalem and Theodore of Mopsuestia are but two series of such lectures. Similar instruction survives from Augustine of Hippo, Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom (from his younger days in Antioch), Quodvultdeus of Carthage, Severus of Antioch and Zeno of Verona.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Christianity , pp. 501 - 530Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
References
. De sacramentiis. Ed.
, St Ambrose on the sacraments (London, 1960).
. Hymns. Ed.
, Ambroise de Milan. Hymnes (Paris, 1992).
. Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit (Patrologia Graeca 26). Trans.
, Athanasius (London, 2004).
. Orations against the Arians. Eds.
et al., Athanasius Werke
I.1 (Berlin, 1998); trans.
, Athanasius (London, 2004).
. Confessions, ed.
(Oxford, 1992).
. Confessions, trans.
(Oxford, 1991).
The Odes of Solomon, Texts and Studies 8, 3 (Cambridge, 1912).
and , eds. La soteriologia dei culti orientali nell’impero Romano (Leiden, 1982).
. ‘Baptismal themes in the writings of Jacob of Serugh’, Symposium Syriacum 1976, Orientalia Christiana Analecta
205 (Rome, 1978).Google Scholar
. The body and society (New York, 1988).
. Cyprian the bishop (London, 2001).
Tradition and theology in St John Cassian (Oxford, 2006).
, ed. Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Alterthums und dem Anfang des Mittelalters (Christiania, 1890; reprint: Brussels, 1964).
The Odes of Solomon (Oxford, 1973).
Cologne Mani-Codex. Eds.
and , Der Kölner Mani-Kodex (über das Werden seines Leibes), kritische Edition aufgrund der von A. Henrichs und L. Koenen besorgten Erstedition (Opladen, 1988).
. Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra (Brussels, 1896–9).
. Baptism in early Byzantine Palestine, 324–451, Joint Liturgical Studies (Cambridge, 1999).
Baptême et mystagogie. Enquête sur l’initiation chrétienne selon s. Jean Chrysostome (Münster, 2005).
. Ecclesiastical hierarchies (Patristische Texte und Studien 36). Trans.
, Pseudo-Dionysius: The complete works (New York, 1987).
‘La discipline des scrutins dans l’église latine avant Charlemagne’, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique
28 (1932).Google Scholar
. Travels. égérie, Journal de voyage (Sources chrétiennes 296); trans.
, Egeria’s travels to the Holy Land (Warminster, 1999).
. Life of Constantine (Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller Eusebius Werke I). Trans. Averil Cameron and Stuart G. Hall, Eusebius. Life of Constantine (Oxford, 1999).
, ed. Liberordinum: Leliber ordinum en usagedans l’église wisigothique et mozarabe d’Espagne du cinquième au onzième siècle (Paris, 1904).
Early Christian baptism and the catechumenate: Italy, North Africa, and Egypt (Collegeville, MN, 1992).
Early Christian baptism and the catechumenate: West and East Syria (Collegeville, MN, 1992).
and , ‘The West from about AD 500 to the Reformation’, in
et al., eds., The study of the liturgy (London: 1992).Google Scholar
. ‘
Initium omnis peccati superbia: Augustine on pride as the first sin’, University of California publications in classical philology 13, no. 13 (1949).Google Scholar
. Teaching. Trans.
. The teaching of St Gregory. An early Armenian catechism (Cambridge, MA, 1970).
. Gnade als konkrete Freiheit: Eine Untersuchung zur Gnadenlehre des Pelagius (Mainz, 1972).
. ‘Die Taufe Christi und die Taufe der Christen. Zur Tauftheologie des Philoxenos von Mabbug und ihrer Bedeutung für die christliche Spiritualität’, in
, ed., Fides sacramenti – sacramentum fidei (Assen, 1981).Google Scholar
Les ‘Kephalaia gnostica’ d’évagre le Pontique et l’histoire de l’origénisme chez les grecs et chez les syriens (Paris, 1962).
. Les Képhalaia Gnostica d’évagre le Pontique et l’histoire de l’Origenisme chez les grecs et chez les syriens (Paris, 1962).
. Augustine: Christian truth and fractured humanity (Oxford, 2000).
. The poetical works of Gerard Manley Hopkins, ed.
(Oxford, 1990).
. The sermons and devotional writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, ed.
(London, 1959).
. ‘On the baptism of Constantine’. Ed.
, ‘L’omelia di Giacomo di Sarug sul battesimo di Costantino imperatore’, Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, anno. CXLXXX, ser. 3, Memorie della Classe di Scienza Morale, Storiche e Filologiche, vol. 8 (Rome, 1883).Google Scholar
. The day has come! Easter and baptism in Zeno of Verona (Collegeville, MN, 1995).
. Homilies P.-K. Ed.
, Varia Graeca sacra (St Petersburg, 1909; reprint: Leipzig, 1975).
, Epistola ad Senarium. Ed.
, Analecta reginensia, Studi e Testi 59 (Rome, 1933).
. Jewish War, Loeb Classical Library (Josephus, II–III) (London, 1927–8).
. A history of Neo-Arianism (Cambridge, MA, 1979).
Die Oden Salomos in ihrer Bedeutung für Neues Testament und Gnosis (Göttingen, 1986).
, ed. Die Kanones der wichtigsten altkirchlien Concilien: nebst den apostolischen Kanones (Freiburg, 1896).
Manichaeism in the later Roman empire and medieval China (Tübingen, 1992).
Spiritual terminology in the Latin translations of the Vita Antonii (Nijmegen, 1955).
The revelation of Elchasai (Tübingen, 1985).
. Great letter. Ed.
, Two rediscovered works of ancient Christian literature (Leiden, 1954).
. Ad Thalassium (Corpus Christianorum Series Graeca 7). Trans.
and , Saint Maximus the Confessor: On the cosmic mystery of Jesus Christ (Crestwood, NY, 2003).
. The mysteries of baptism. Trans.
, ‘The mysteries of baptism by Moses bar Kepha compared with the odes of Solomon’, The expositor ser. 8.2 (October 1911).Google Scholar
et al. Faith gives fullness to reason: The five theological orations of Gregory of Nazianzen, Supp. Vigiliae Christianae
13 (Leiden, 1991).
. Life of Ambrose. Ed.
, Vite dei santi: Vita di Cipriano, Vita di Ambrogio, Vita di Agostino (Milan, 1975).
. ‘Baptismal address’. Ed.
, ‘A baptismal address attributed to Athanasius,’ Oriens Christianus
61 (1977).Google Scholar
. Homilies on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, ed. and trans.
, OSB (Rome, 1998).
. The doctrine of deification in the Greek patristic tradition (Oxford, 2004).
Le dossier baptismale séthien: études sur la sacramentaire gnostique (Quebec, 1986).
. Heilsgeschichte und Liturgie: Studien zum Verhältnis und Heilsteilhabe an hand liturgischer und katechetischer Quellen des dritten und vierten Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 2000).
. On baptism. Ed. and trans.
, Tertullian’s homily on baptism (London, 1964).
. Catechetical homilies. Eds.
and , Les homélies catéchétiques de Théodore de Mopsueste, Studi e Testi 145 (Vatican, 1949).
. Summa theologiae, ed.
(Taurini, 1948).
Eunomius of Cyzicus and the Nicene revolution (Oxford, 2000).
Augustine the bishop. Church and society at the dawn of the middle ages (New York, 1965).
. Les onctions baptismales dans la tradition syrienne, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 512 (subs. 82) (Louvain, 1989).
Documents of the baptismal liturgy (London, 1970).
. The awe-inspiring rites of initiation: The origins of the R. C.I.A. (Edinburgh, 1994).
- 1
- Cited by