A History of the Catechumenate

A History of the Catechumenate
The Requirements for Admission to Baptism

From the Pentecost event on, faith is obviously the central element of conversion. This faith is progressively "Christian": it is not just belief in God as creator (like the pagans) or even just in the God of the Old Testament (like the Jews), but in the God of Jesus Christ. The oldest letter of the New Testament states this explicitly and points the way for converts:

For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (I Thess 1:9-10).

The narrative of the baptisms at Pentecost even indicates two moments in the access to faith, two periods marked by two thresholds.

First, there is the kerygmatic announcement (Acts 2:14-36). This period, in which the mystery of the risen Christ is proclaimed, terminates in the first threshold: "Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' " (Acts 2:37). This almost ritual question occurs again and again in the kerygmatic context. It manifests the first conversion that allows the taking of a step toward baptism. Indeed, what is involved is a real and profound faith, a faith prepared to move on to action. ⁹

But the faith was not yet stabilized. It had to be consolidated by more thorough teaching, by the "many other words" of which Augustine stresses the importance. Once across the first threshold, there was a certain period of catechesis (Acts 2:38-40). This time of instruction and formation ends with the second threshold, where it is a question of determining if the candidates have applied the message in their lives, if they have "received his word" (Acts 2:41), that is to say, if they have obeyed Christ in practice, if they have changed their behavior enough to be admitted to baptism.

Access to baptism thus already seems to involve two distinct stages and two thresholds. Even though these two thresholds were very close to each other at the beginning, the redactor of the narrative clearly delineates them: an initial evangelization issuing in an act of faith-global but real since one's very existence is involved-and a more detailed catechesis that must be translated into concrete acts.

The narrative of the baptism of Cornelius (Acts 10:1-11, 18) is even clearer. Its structure suggests what could have been the baptismal stages when the Acts were compiled in the last third of the first century. ¹⁰

The various descriptions we have of the scene have an introductory section, which is situated outside of a house (10,17, and 25). This is, in effect, the first stage, that of the approach to someone in authority who asks the traditional question: "What is your motive?" (10:21,29). The candidate replies by indicating that he is "just and fears God" (10:22,30) and by asking to be admitted to catechesis (10:22,33). This request is supported by guarantees: the witness of the angel (10:4,31), the three envoys (10:22), and the Jewish community (10:22). And, as appears from other, later texts, admission to catechesis is signified by the entry into the house (10:23,27).

Then the catechesis proper takes place (10:34-43). It is centered on Christ (10:36), whose lordship is demonstrated by the events that extend from the baptism by John to the resurrection appearances (10:37-41). The guarantee is provided by the preachers (10:42). Such instruction is intended to awaken full faith in Christ and through it to lead to baptism (10:43).

If this faith is manifest, the baptism can take place. But its quality must first be verified. In Cornelius's particular case, when the "six brethren" did not dare to render a favorable opinion, it was necessary for God himself to provide the witness (15:8) by sending his Spirit (10:44; 11:15). Faced with this incontestable sign, the community decided to baptize (10:44-48).

The narratives of Acts give indications of a double examination bracketing the period of catechesis. These indications are reinforced by two things: this structure became the normal one a hundred years later, and it already existed in certain contemporary Jewish practices.

Footnotes, Part 1

The Jewish Practices, the next chapter of A History of the Catechumenate, will be posted next Thursday. For information about ordering this book, please see Sadlier's Religion Catalog.

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