Efficacious engagement
Subtitle: sacramental participation in the Trinitarian mystery
By: Kimberly Hope Belcher
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Collegeville, Minn
Language: eng
Number of pages: 199
ISBN-13: 9780814657638; 9780814680414
Subjects: Doctrines; Catholic Church; Sacraments; Trinity; Infant baptism
Description: The long-standing tradition of baptizing infants suggests that the sacraments plunge our bodies into salvation, so the revelation of God's love in the sacraments addresses the whole person, not the mind alone. In this work, the contemporary Roman Catholic rite of baptism for infants becomes a case study, manifesting the connections between the human body, the ecclesial body, and the Body of Christ. The sacramental life, for children as for adults, is an ongoing journey deeper into the life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By examining the church's practice of infant baptism, Kimberly Hope Belcher asks how human beings participate in God's life through the sacraments. Christian sacraments are embodied, cultural rituals performed by and for human beings. At the same time, the sacraments are God's gifts of grace, by which human beings enter into God's own life. In this study, contemporary ritual studies, sacramental theology, and trinitarian theology are used to explore how participation in the sacraments can be an efficacious engagement in God's life of love.
Notes: "A Michael Glazier book."

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: The sacramental plan of salvation; title: Efficacious engagement : ritual formation of dynamic persons; title: Initiating infants; title: Folds; title: Threefold : the Trinitarian dynamic of infant baptism; title: The Spirit : unfolding the gift.