Karl Barth’s understanding of Christian Baptism as a basis for a conversation on the praxis of Sacraments in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Karl Barth’s understanding of Christian Baptism as a basis for a conversation on the praxis of Sacraments in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa
 
Creator Tshaka, Rothney S. Lephakga, Tshepo
 
Subject — Karl Barth; Christian ethics; baptism; infant baptism; Martin Luther; URCSA
Description This article is an initial attempt to bring the subject of baptism and to a lesser extent infant baptism in particular, as demonstrated in Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics, into a conversation with the practice of this phenomenon in African Reformed churches in South Africa, specifically the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). Whilst the Roman Catholic and Reformed traditions regarding the sacraments differ significantly in the understanding of this subject, this article will examine Barth’s understanding of baptism. This is done by critically examining key themes in his Church Dogmatics. The praxis of the sacraments and especially that of baptism continue to be a praxis that is highly venerated in African Reformed theological circles. This is so because it is believed that symbolism continues to occupy centre stage in African Reformed churches. In a sense therefore it seems that the African Reformed Christian leans more towards a Roman Catholic understanding of this sacrament. Is that perhaps true? Essentially this conversation will explore the relationship of faith to baptism and how this impacts on infant baptism for instance.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2013-05-07
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v69i1.1330
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 69, No 1 (2013); 8 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
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The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1330/3470 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1330/3471 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1330/3472 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1330/3469
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2013 Rothney S. Tshaka, Tshepo Lephakga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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