One Baptism—One Church?
A History and Theology of the Reception of Baptized Christians
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2025 Catholic Media Association Honorable Mention, Ecumenism or Interfaith Relations
Mutual recognition of baptism has grounded ecumenical efforts, but does contemporary Roman Catholic pastoral practice reflect these ecumenical theologies?
How do we understand the outer boundaries of the church? On the one hand, over the centuries Christians have recognized the baptism of those outside their own ecclesial body, but on the other hand, the practices of receiving those who are already baptized from other groups proclaim social, theological, and ecclesial distinctions. How do contemporary practices reflect theological principles and historical development? One Baptism—One Church? demonstrates ways that contemporary practice may be an obstacle to the full expression of our ecumenical commitments and how history can reshape that practice.
While the mutual recognition of baptism has grounded ecumenical efforts, pastoral practice—especially in local communities far away from the centers of power—does not always reflect ecumenical theologies. Contemporary Roman Catholic practice may seem at odds with the official understanding of baptized Christians as in real though imperfect communion by means of their participation in Christ. Focusing on the Byzantine East and Roman West, this book seeks to remove obstacles to the more complete expression and recognition of Christian unity and outlines concrete ways that our partial communion could be better expressed. It concludes with practical reflections and recommendations for best practices in the reception of baptized Christians in the contemporary Roman Catholic Church and proposes a reformed Rite for the Reception of Baptized Christians that is more faithful to history and ecumenically sensitive.
Acknowledgments viii
Abbreviations ix
Chapter One
Ecumenism and the Reception of Christians from Other Churches 1
Introduction 1
“One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism” 4
Receptive Ecumenism and Growth in Communion 8
The Social Dimensions of Church Communities 12
Chapter Two
The Historical Foundations 23
Foundational Dispute: Cyprian and Stephen 23
Mary Douglas and Cultural Theory 38
Chapter Three
Clarifying the Debate: From Cyprian and Stephen to the First Liturgical Witnesses 47
Trinitarian Baptism in East and West 48
The Eighth-Century Emergence of Liturgical Texts 63
Chapter Four
Rebaptism and Canonical Reinterpretation 67
Trouble in Bulgaria: The Ninth-Century Conflict between East and West 67
Late Medieval and Early Modern Developments 77
“Arians, Heretics, and Apostates”: The Western Liturgical Books of the Middle Ages 79
East-West Relations in the “Medieval” Period 90
Chapter Five
Settling into Schisms 99
Early Modern Period (Sixteenth to Twentieth Centuries) 100
Historical and Ritual Conclusions 114
Interlude: Other Eastern Churches 120
Chapter Six
Ecumenical Revisions: The Twentieth Century, Today, and the Future 125
East 126
West 128
Post–Vatican II Reforms 134
Theological and Ecumenical Conclusions 143
Best Practices Using the Current Liturgical Book 155
Toward a New Liturgical Rite 167
Appendix
A Proposed Order of Reception into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church of Those Already Validly Baptized 173
Index 193