Affusion
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Affusion(la.affusio) is a method ofbaptismwhere water is poured on the head of the person being baptized. The word "affusion" comes from the Latinaffusio,meaning "to pour on".[1]Affusion is one of four methods of baptism used by Christians, which also include totalsubmersion baptism,partialimmersion baptism,andaspersionor sprinkling.[2][3][4][5]
Christian denominations which baptize by affusion do not deny the legitimacy of baptizing by submersion or immersion; rather, they consider that affusion is a sufficient, if not necessarily preferable, method of baptism. Affusion and aspersion tend to be practiced byChristian denominationsthat also practiceinfant baptism.This may be due to the practical difficulties and dangers ofdrowningandhypothermiaassociated with totally immersing an infant in cold water. However,Eastern Orthodoxand someRoman Catholicspractice infant immersion (though because of their different theology oforiginal sinand historically different beliefs about the eternal fate of infants who die before baptism, Eastern Orthodox usually delay baptism until the infant is at least 40 days old, which considerably lessens the dangers of immersion).Amish,Old Order Mennonites,andConservative Mennonitesstill practice baptism by pouring.
History
[edit]Affusion became the standard practice in the western church around the 10th century,[6]but was in use much earlier. The earliest explicit reference to baptism by affusion occurs in theDidache(c. AD 100), the seventh chapter of which gives instructions on how to baptize, which include affusion:
…But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither,pour outwater three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. (Emphasis added)[7]
This text implies that early Christians saw affusion as a viable alternative to immersion when no living water (i.e. running water like a river or spring) or cold water is available.
Acts of various martyrs show that many were baptized in prison, while awaiting martyrdom; immersion would have been impossible. The most common use, however, was for ill or dying people who could not rise from their beds. It was consequently known as "baptism of the sick". Receiving this baptism was regarded as a bar toHoly Orders,but this sprang from the person's having put off baptism until the last moment—a practice that in the fourth century became common, with people enrolling ascatechumensbut not being baptized for years or decades. While the practice was decried at the time, the intent of the criticism was not to encourage baptism by immersion, but to refrain from delaying baptism.
Affusion and the Bible
[edit]In theNew Testamentbook ofActs,speaks to a “pouring out” of theHoly Spirit(Acts 2:17,18,33; Acts 10:45). However, none of these verses refer directly tobaptism.It may also indicate thatLuke’s concept of baptism includes, or allows for,baptismby pouring. For instance, onPentecost,thediscipleswere baptized with theHoly Spiritby having the Spirit “poured out” on them from heaven not by being dipped in theHoly Spirituntil they were completely immersed.
Submersionists say that passages like these do not directly speak to the issue of water baptism because they are, strictly speaking, about baptism with theHoly Spirit.Affusionists think they indirectly apply to water baptism, though, by telling something about the generalconceptof baptism, regardless of whether the medium of baptism is water or Spirit.
Affusionists see more evidence thatLuke’s concept of baptism includes pouring by noting an additional possible connection between water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism. InActs 10,believers with Peter are “astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45). Peter responds by saying, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have" (Acts 10:47).
Affusionists read Peter to be saying "by having the Spirit poured out on them, these people already have been baptized with the Spirit, so why not actually baptize them with water." They understand Peter’s words to imply that water baptism is a symbolic picture of the Holy Spirit baptism. If this is right, affusionists contend, then water baptism should be, or, at least, can be, by pouring, because the baptism with the Holy Spirit of which it is a picture occurs by pouring.
Also noteworthy to affusionists is that, inLuke 11:38,the wordἐβαπτίσθη[ebaptisthē][8]is used in the Greek andbaptizatus[9]is used in the Latin.[10][11]Both words are used, in other passages, to mean baptism. But in that verse of Luke, the "washing" referred to is partial, like affusion.
See also
[edit]- Believer's baptism
- Baptism of desire
- Baptism of Jesus
- Baptism with the Holy Spirit
- Conditional baptism
- John the Baptist
References
[edit]- ^"Affusion"Dictionary
- ^"There are four principal methods of baptizing: (1) submersion (or total immersion); (2) immersion, when the head is dipped with or without the candidate standing in the water; (3) affusion, when water is poured over the head and (4)…" (John Gordon Davies,The Architectural Setting of Baptism.Barrie and Rockliff 1962. p. 23).
- ^"The four principal modes are: 1.Submersion;or total immersion, where the candidate goes briefly but entirely below the water, on the model of those baptised by John in the River Jordan; 2.Immersion;where the head, as the prime seat of Man's rational and spiritual being, is in some way submerged, with or without the candidate having to stand in the same container of water; 3.Affusion;…"(Charles Thomas,Christianity in Roman Britain to A.D. 500.University of California Press 1981ISBN0-520-04392-8.p, 204
- ^"In the early Church baptism was by one of four methods: complete submersion of the entire body, immersion of the head, affusion or pouring, or aspersion or sprinkling" (Steven J. Schloeder,Architecture in Communion.Ignatius Press 1998ISBN0-89870-631-9.p. 113).
- ^"There have been four different modes of conferring baptism throughout history: (1)submersion,also calleddipping,in which the candidate is completely submerged under the baptismal waters; (2)immersion,in which the candidate stands or kneels in rather shallow water, and the water is either poured over the head of the candidate or the candidate's head itself is pushed partially into the water; (3)affusion,in which water is poured over the head of the candidate; and (4)aspersion…"(S. Anita Stauffer,On Baptismal Fonts: Ancient and Modern.Grove Books 1994, pp. 9-10).
- ^"Baptistery",Encyclopædia Britannica,2007. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
- ^"Didache"inThe Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325.vol. 1. Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; and Coxe, A. Cleveland, eds. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 1951 (original pub. in U.S. 1885).
- ^ebaptisthē
- ^baptizatus
- ^Luke 11:38 Greek Interlinear
- ^New Advent: Luke 11