Recent interest in the social aspects of the first-century Mediterranean world reflected in the texts of the New Testament has taken primarily two directions. The one approach concentrates on social description, and the oth er on social-scientific interp re tatio n . This article surveys the major works of several of the leading exponents of this type of study in terms of the extent to which they make use of the social sciences. It differs from existing surveys by having an in-depth look at the elements of social-scientific theory and method actually employed, and by making a comparative assessment of the importance allocated by different authors to the role of the text as a deliberate construction.
The ritual of baptism as status-transformation. Rituals are social mechanisms that have the very important function of effecting transitions in social and/or religious roles and status. Such transitions can be both internal and external in nature. Rituals should be differentiated from ceremonies. The latter function to confirm the roles and issues of status in the institutions of family, politics, education, religion, and economics. Ritual is the mechanism by which role and status are changed in a valid way in order to ensure spiritual growth and strengthen the bond with the church. The purpose of the article is to comment on the apparent loss of experiential meaning associated with the ritual of baptism in the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, but probably also in most protestant churches that practice the ritual of infant baptism. The thesis is that infant baptism functions like a ceremony rather than a ritual the infant, not present at its own baptism in any real sense except physically, is never able to experience the affective and cognitive transition originally wrought by the ritual. Therefore, if the church does not introduce some measure to effect the bonding, the individual will always have trouble in identifying with the church.
IN L EroiN GDie m aatreëls wat die bywoning van sekere eredienste in die Nederduitsch H er vormde Kerk deur 'n bepaalde kategorie mense beperk of belet reflekteer 'n tydperk en 'n maatskaplike orde waarin daar streng onderskei is tussen groepe en kategorieë mense. Hierdie onderskeid is nie net op kerklike vlak getref nie, maar is op alle terreine van die samelewing gehandhaaf (vgl Pont [1969]:203-204; 1978a: 331;Oberholzer [1969]:219-220). Dit was 'n sosiale onderskeid wat gebaseer is op die waarneming van verskille op fisiese, kulturele, intellektueie en geestelike gebied tussen die eie groep en die vreemde groep(e). Later het hierdie sosiale onderskeid -wat aanvanklik natuurlike sosiale verkeer was -neerslag gevind in maatreëls en wette, beide staatsregtelik én kerkliki. Nog later het hierdie groepsmatige denke 'n bepalende invloed uitgeoefen op die Kerk se siening van homself as volkskerk, en op die Kerk se formulering van die wyse waarop hy sy sendingtaak wil verrig onder daardie mense van wie hy hom so onderskei het.2. fflSTORIESE OORSIG Om die plek en die probleem van die maatreëls oor erediensbywoning te kan verstaan, is dit nodig om 'n historiese oorsig te gee van die oorsprong, interpretasie en gebruik van hierdie maatreels in die Kerk. Die onderskeid wat in die stukke van die kerk getref word tussen die bywoning van eredienste en lidmaatskap van die kerk, ISSN 0259 «M22 = U T S 5 0 / 3 ( 1 9 9 4 ) 713
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