Baptism, Community, and Critique: A Cross-Cultural Study of Unorthodox Religion in Europe and England, 1100-1700
[Thesis]
Eric Russell Kenagy
Head, Randolph
University of California, Riverside
2015
177
Committee members: Brennan, James; Simmons, Dana
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-339-02916-0
Ph.D.
History
University of California, Riverside
2015
Europe's history is marked by consistent tension between orthodox institutions and non-conformist communities, radical groups seeking to create new autonomous religious movements. What make the heresies I am studying significant are their shared objections, and the extent to which leaders expressed themselves through attacks on established Church doctrines. This dissertation is a comparative, cross-cultural study of ritual baptism, which seeks to find commonalities among four groups: the Cathars, Anabaptists, Quakers and Baptists. I argue that dissident critiques of prevailing institutions, doctrines, and ways of life were very similar and consistent. Moreover, as the institutional Churches gained in wealth and power, the radical leadership began to attack them through meticulous Scriptural analysis and Biblical interpretation.
Religious history; Cultural anthropology; European history
Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Anabaptists;Baptism;Baptists;Cathars;Reformation;Ritual