Word: baptismal
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Pioneered by a turn-of-the-century Kansas Methodist preacher, Charles F. Parham, Pentecostalism asserts as its basic tenet the need for baptism by the Holy Spirit, the supreme manifestation of which is glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. Dissatisfied with the institutionalized quality of Methodist worship and spirituality, Parham took as his inspiration the message of Acts 2: 1-4, which tells how, as the disciples assembled on Pentecost, "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues." Hoping to receive the spirit...
Dutch theologians also reject original sin as an inherited spiritual stigma on the soul, instead regard the doctrine as a symbolic way of expressing the truth that man exists in a sinful, imperfect world. For that reason, some thinkers question the need for infant baptism. "To say that a human being is born damned and continues to be damned until he is baptized is utter nonsense," says Lay Theologian Daniel de Lange, secretary of The Netherlands' ecumenical center. Heaven and hell? Dominican Theologian Willem van der Marck shrugs them off as myth: "Heaven and hell just do not preoccupy...
...model for much of Germany. The episcopate was abolished, since Luther had found no Scriptural warrant for the office of bishop. Clerical celibacy was abandoned, even for monks and nuns-and in 1525, Luther married a former nun, Katherine von Bora. The sacraments were reduced from seven to two: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Luther revised the Latin liturgy and translated it into German, allowing the laity to receive the consecrated wine as well as the Host, substituting a new popular hymnody for Gregorian chant. Emphasis in worship changed from the celebration of the sacrificial Mass...
...Priesthood of All Believers: "When a Pope or bishop anoints, he may make a hypocrite of a man, or an anointed image, but never a Christian. The fact is that our baptism consecrates us all without ex ception, and makes us all priests...
Reformation leaders rejected the traditional opinion that confirmation was a Christ-founded sacrament of the same importance as baptism or Holy Communion; but many churches have preserved the ritual as a way of sanctifying religious instruction and symbolizing full entry into the church. In the Anglican Communion, where the customary age for receiving confirmation is twelve, the bishop first questions the youth on his knowledge of the faith, then lays on hands as a sign of the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Among Lutherans, the usual age is 13 or 14, and as with Episcopalians, confirmation is a requirement...