Odnowić w sobie przymierze z Bogiem. Sakrament chrztu w teologii metodystycznej i dialogu katolicko-metodystycznym

Abstract

Baptism and Eucharist are two rites regarded by Methodist theology as the sacraments of the Gospel. Early Methodist, Wesleyan theology of baptism did not differ from the Anglican theological heritage. Baptism clears a person from the original sin and starts the process of restoring the God’s image in a baptized. For Wesley, by baptism a child enters into the covenant with God and into the Church family as the community of faith. For this reason he accepted to baptize children bom from believing parents. The baptismal covenant, however, must be renewed in a Christian once he reaches adult age and is able to profess his faith. This renewal of baptismal vows concerns in fact all Christians, because baptism is not an end, but only the beginning of a lifelong process of sanctification. After Wesley times this initial Methodist theology was neglected (because of poor availability of sacraments from late eighteen century in America) and reduced to the naming a child or professing the faith of an adult. To restore to now-a-days Methodism the Wesleyan theology of baptism, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church adopted in 1996 the document By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism. The document confirmed early Methodist understanding of baptism as well as the practice to baptizing by immersion, pouring or sprinkling the water while reciting the Trinitarian formula. Theology of baptism was also one of the subjects of the Roman Catholic-Methodist dialogue on the world level. The parties concluded with far-reaching consensus about the sacrament of baptism. The remaining differences are mainly in emphasis: the Catholics put more attention on baptism as the first and the most important sacrament, the Methodists point to the importance of constant renewal of baptismal covenant and see baptism more likely as a starting point of the lifelong process of sanctification.