Notes 02.25.16
My apologies for the delay.
Legend:
b/c=because
b/t=between
w/=with
F(x)=function
Cxt=context
©=connected or connection
C/=contrast
Jwsh=Jewish
Xian=Christian
X=Christ
J=Jesus
G=God
HS=Holy Spirit
Ch=church
{ }=artist/author
ReCap:
·
Change in baptismal function from 2nd
temple cxtàxian
cixt
o Ritual
purification gives rise to moral purification
Roman Bathing Traditions
·
*Jews do still practice Roman bathing practices
·
Every Roman city had at least one public bath
(also private home baths)
·
àpublic
bathing: social & religious event
o business
deals
o political
deals
o social
connections
o like
Linked-In, but in person and in the nude
·
Access
o Very
inexpensive
o Large
communities would have multiples at different prices, class divisions
o At
some time periods there is mixed gender bathing, at others there is a gendered
time or physical division
§
More associated with masculinity and cultivating
masculine identity b/c simply not as interested in “the feminine” as many are
today
·
Religious f(x)
o Sacrifices
to particular gods
o speakers
·
hygiene is emphasized in the Roman world as a
way to cultivate virtue (smelly people are bad people)
o by
bathing one makes oneself more virtuous (physical and moral interconnectedness
in the Roman understanding ©Xians: spiritual and physical selves)
·
Gymnasium connected to baths
o Men
cultivate honor, strength and courage @ gym
·
Bath building
o Bathe
o Workout
@ gym
o Classrooms
àfeeding the mind via
classes and speakers
o Libraries
·
Layout
o Ritual
practice of going through the bath: based on best practices, health, &
hygiene
o Bathe
after business day has ended and before the main meal
·
How to bathe: a convenient guide [Bath of
Caracalla]
o Enter
through the main entrance
o Changing
room –take clothes off
o Oil
up and work out in Gym, outdoor exercise area ©anointing with oil ©messiah
§
Idea the X is an anointed one is odd to the
Romans because everyone gets anointed in the gym
o Classes
perhaps
o Swim
o Cold
bath
o Warm
bath (calidarium)
o Hot
bath (Tepidarium)
·
Heating up:
o Hypocaust
systems—steam is generated outside the building and pumped underneath the floor
(which is elevated by brick pillars)
o Heated
from below and maybe sides as well
·
Roman identity
o Communal
identity constructed through this ritual ©Durkheim
·
Cultivating Virtue
o Particularly
virtuous people (read: rich philanthropists) will have memorials set up
throughout the baths with sculpture and inscriptio
§
=someone you should emulate, b/c they are more
virtuous than you
Thinking about this in © to Early xian baptistery (4th-6th
c.)
·
Baptistery ©ed to St. John Lateran in Rome
·
Located next to a Ch, not inside as a way to
keep cathecumens separate from the in-group b/c they are not yet xians
·
Earliese xians met in house Chs (converted
homes)
·
Purpose-built Chs begin to be built under
Constantine (4th c.)
o Constantine
also donates certain buildings to be converted into churches Basilicas(=public
works buildings)
§
Basilica architectural plan becomes dominant Ch
layout
·
Baptisteries tend to be round and octagonal
Similarities b/t baptism and bathing in the Roman world:
·
Purification of physical body and virtue/soul
·
Naked/nude
·
Anointing with oil
o ©athlete
as metaphor for cathecumen àbattle
b/t good and evil
·
in-group identity formation
o Xian
baptism is a one time deal
o Roman
bathing is continual
·
Ritualized action
o Cathecumens
have sponsor who goes through the process with them, reliving the sponsor’s
baptism through repetitive ritualized action
·
Xian baptism isn’t public knowledge àhence whispers
o Baptismal
kiss has people like WHAT
o Familial
language is confusing to outsiders—accused of incest
·
Clarification: these two phenomena are not the
same but some of the logic carries over in helping us understand
·
More similarities b/t roman rites than jwsh ones
b/c xianity quickly becomes a gentile mvmt more than a jwsh one
Metaphors for cathecumens: Xians appropriating cultural
tropes
*many of these also signal Xian identity in general in
funerary art and what have you
·
Athletes
·
Soldiers
·
Fishàtradition
of J telling disciples to ”fish for people” ©Hildegard of Bingen: womb of
church like a net with people going in and out àfurther
© to baptism: womb and church as mother of faithful children
·
Lamb àpart
of flock, J as good shepherd
o Priests
talked about as shepherds of flock (Bishops in Catholic tradition carries a
crook)
o Young
X: no beard, ideal of time period (roman athlete)
·
Citizenà
becoming part of a new people/group
o Signing
a register is the first step of baptism
·
Heirs (of the kingdom of heaven)
Functions of baptism
·
Ensure salvation
·
Ontological shift—a shift in being
(ontology=”beingness”)
o Unsavedàsaved, impureàpure, in sinànot in sin
·
You are literally reborn—death of sin
·
Dying & rising w/ X
·
Reversal of original sin
Risks associated with baptism
·
you’re more susceptible to demon possession in
water
·
also when you’re a cathecumen the negative
forces may be more interested in you
·
how many times can you be baptized? Some set it
at 2.
·
Social risk: joining this cmty you leave another
behind (not that you have no © to them, but it is very different) you are now
adopted into the new group
o Possibility
of social isolation and disconnection from your past and biological family
o Head
of household likely encourages the rest of the fam to join
o There
may also be familial divisions
·
*xianity is not the predominant tradition at
this time
© b/t Baptism and X’s death
·
Paul (writes earliest) Romans 6 (60s CE)
·
Baptism is synonymous with X’s death
o Understood
as literally dying w/ X and rising with him (through the physical experience)
·
5th C. baptistery(building) &
baptismal font (pool)
o cross
shape
o looks
like a grave
o 3
steps down—©Jesus in tomb 3 days before rising, ©trinity
o full
immersion in water (burial by water)—visceral experience
o walk
out the other side: into and out of the grave ©mikvah
§
enter impure and exit pure
·
font associated with grave & womb à death & rebirth
·
San Giovanni’s Baptistery ceiling in Naples
o Chi-rho=sign
of X
o Alpha
& omega: beginning and end
o Hand
with crown = hand of G giving crown to X (and also the one who is being
baptized ©athletes get wreath crowns as major prize *also associated w/ Xian
martyrs
o Around
main circle, stories of water: well, wateràwine
§
All stories allude to h2o thus alluding to
baptism and are being relayed to you as you come out of the water
·
Arian Baptistry, Ravenna
o Martyrs
§
Baptized in blood
o You
are being baptized in water and coming into this community
o Also
being baptized w/ brothers and sisters in X, which include martys
o *cosmic
community “community of saints”/”cloud of witnesses” (Acts)
§
cmty lives on after the physical body dies
o seeing
cmty welcoming you w/ their crowns
Questions to ponder:
Infant baptism—how to assess seriousness (does
age of baptism matter?)
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