The Encyclopedia of World Religions

baptism S 45

to J UDAISM take a ritual bath known as a mikveh. This bath was also traditionally used by women after their menstrual periods. Today, baptism is best-known as the ritual by which people join the Christian church. For Catho lic, Orthodox, and some Protestant Christians, this ritual is a SACRAMENT . That is, it is a special way or means of receiving G OD ’ S GRACE . To modern schol ars Christian baptism is a RITE OF PASSAGE . It is a ritual for passing from one stage of life to another. In baptism people pass from being outside the Christian church to being members of it. Unlike the Mandaeans, Christians baptize a person only one time. Once baptized, a person is always baptized. That is true even for a person who renounces Christianity and then wants to be Christian again. But Christians have disagreed about when to baptize, how to baptize, and how it works. These disagreements are part of the reason why there are so many different Christian churches and denominations. The earliest Christians baptized people as they converted to C HRISTIANITY . Most of these people were adults. In ancient times, some people waited to be baptized on their deathbeds. In other words, they practiced baptism as a rite of passage con nected with death. They thought that if they were baptized at death, they would enter the world beyond with all their sins forgiven. One person baptized on his deathbed was the Roman emperor Constantine ( c. 280–337), famous for removing all laws against Christianity. Christians continue to baptize adult converts today. But for the most part Christian baptism is either a birth or a puberty ritual. Catholic, Ortho dox, and some Protestant Christians generally prac tice baptism as a birth ritual. That is, they baptize infants. Other Protestants, such as Baptists, gener ally practice baptism as a puberty ritual. That is, they baptize people only when they have reached an age of spiritual maturity. At that age, the think ing goes, people are able to choose for themselves whether or not they want to be Christian. Some Christians baptize by sprinkling with water. This is the way those who baptize infants prefer to baptize. Others insist that baptism

Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith (Oxford: Oneworld, 1999); ———, A Short History of the Baha’i Faith (Oxford: Oneworld, 1997).

Banaras Also spelled Benares, officially Varanasi; for Hindus the most sacred city in India. Banaras sits on the banks of the sacred G ANGES R IVER . It has been important since antiquity. For example, the B UDDHA (sixth-century B . C . E .) preached his first sermon in Sarnath, one of its outlying districts. Banaras is renowned for its stepped bathing places. These are known as ghats. Tremendous numbers of people from all parts of India flock to Banaras to bathe. The city also boasts more than 1,500 Hindu temples. The largest number of these temples honor S IVA . In addition, the city contains representations of all of the most important sacred sites in India. Banaras may have originally sat at a place to ford the Ganges, that is, a place to cross it without a boat. Today people come to the city to ford a metaphorical stream, the stream of SAMSARA , and attain release from rebirth. As a result, Banaras is an especially auspicious place at which to die. Many religious groups have practiced baptism. For example, baptism is the central ritual of the Mandaeans, who live in southern Iraq and south eastern Iran. It is so important that others who live around them call them “baptizers.” The Mandae ans baptize in “living water,” which they call “Jor dan.” A priest immerses them completely three times in this water. Afterward they are anointed with oil. Ideally, Mandaeans are baptized every Sunday. They have claimed that they are practicing the religion taught by John the Baptist. Baptism seems to have been particularly important to religions of the Near East around the time of J ESUS . The people that we learn about in the D EAD S EA S CROLLS seem to have baptized every day. Jews baptize, too. According to tradition, converts baptism R ITUAL bathing or washing. Baptism is best known as the ritual by which people become members of the Christian church.