Table Of ContentThe Priesthood of the Plebs
A Theology ofBaptism
J.
Peter Leithart
Wipf and Stock Publishers
Eugene, Oregon
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Wipf and Stock Publishers
Dedication vii
199 West 8th A venue, Suite 3
Eugene, Oregon 97 401
Atknowledgements lX
Prefate to the Published Edition xi
The Priesthood of the Plebs Original Prefate to the Thesis xix
A Theology of Baptism
J..
By Peter Leithart
Copyright © 2003, Peter J.. Leithart
CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL 1
ISBN: 1-59244-404-0
Publication Date: October, 2003 Out of the Shadows: Paschasius Radbertus 8
Vases Don't Cure the Sick: Hugh of St. Victor 11
Opu.s Operatum and Its Reformation Opponents 16
Marcion and Modern Sacramental Theology 18
Mystery Religion and Eucharistic "Re-Presentation" 18
Circumcision, Nationalized vs .. Spiritualized 21
Sacramental Theology and the Social Sciences 26
Symphony in Two Movements 32
Conclusion 42
CHAPTER TWO: ATTENDANTS IN YAHWEH'S
48
HOUSE: PRIESTHOOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Solving the Equation 53
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Ancient Near Eastern Parallels 60
What Does 1i1:::l Do? 64
Standing to Serve 65
The Rite of Ordination 71
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Table of Contents . THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE PLEBS
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The Kingdom Belongs to Such as These 146
Filling the Hand
72
Satramenta Cau.sant Quod Signifttant 154
Consecration
77
Baptismal Regeneration 160
Conclusion
83
You Must Be Born Again 165
How Can Water Do These Wonders? 174
CHAPTER THREE: BAPTISM TO PRIESTHOOD:
APOSTOLIC CONJUGATIONS OF THE
87 Conclusion 182
ORDINATION RITE
Union With the Totus Christus
91
CHAPTER FIVE: THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE PLEBS 183
Bodies Washed to Draw Near, Hebrews 10:19-22
96
To the Jew First 186
Investiture With Christ, Galatians 3:27
102
And to the Greek 197
The Sanctifying Wash, 1 Corinthians 6:11
108
Jew, Gentile, Barbarian, Greek 203
Levi's Homage to Adam, Luke 3:21-23
111
Priestly Messiah Conclusion 209
112
Addendum 215
Baptized to Priesthood
115
Christs Christened Into Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
121
CHAPTER SIX: O FOOLISH GALATIANS! WHO HAS
Anointed Priests 223
123 BEWITCHED YOU?
Removing the Veil Follow the Oil 227
129
Conclusion The Return of Antique Order 232
131
The Gregorian Construction of Modernity 241
CHAPTER FOUR: BAPTISMAL ORDINATION AS
Conclusion 247
RITUAL POESIS 133
Making Priests: The Liturgy of Initiation
135
EPILOGUE: SUMMARY AND AREAS OF FUTURE
Holy Food for the Holy Ones 249
142 RESEARCH
For Further Investigation 252
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Table of Contents .
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
255
TO JAMES B. JORDAN
KUlVU KUL TIUAUlU
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many more have contributed to this project than I can know,
but I wish to thank some of those whose help has been most evident.
·1 For financial support, I thank the Sessions of Cherokee Presbyterian
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Church, Woodstock, Georgia, USA, and of Covenant Presbyterian
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Church, Nashville, Tennessee, USA Tom Singleton of the Nehemiah
Foundation also provided a substantial grant, for which I am very
grateful.. Special thanks to the Session and people of Reformed
Heritage Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, whose
financial support, prayers, and friendship have meant much to me and
my family.. We are thankful also for the prayers and encouragement of
the members of the Cambridge Presbyterian Church,
Gilbert and Cindy Douglas and their family deserve special thanks
for their extraordinary selflessness in handling many practical
necessities "back home." Thanks also to my parents, Dr. Paul and
Mildred Leithart, who took on several tasks that made our life
immeasurably easier. I am grateful to my wife, Noel, and my sons,
Jordan, Sheffield, Christian, and James, who curbed my almost infinite
capacity for error by helping to check bibliography, citations, and
Scripture references. Beyond that, Noel has long embodied true
Christian sacrifice by her continual willingness to put others ahead of
herself. May her good works ascend as fragrant incense.
My intellectual debts are likewise more than the hairs of my head.
Thanks to my supervisor, John Milbank, whose enthusiasm for my
work was encouraging and astonishing in equal measure.. Eady on,
Tim Jenkins and Stephen Buckland navigated me through the
uncharted seas of cultural anthropology. Dr. Graham Davies and
The Priesthood ef the Plebs PREFACE TO THE PUBLISHED EDITION
Professor Robert Gordon read and made helpful comments on the
material in chapter 2, and Dr. James Carleton Paget read and
Though The Priesthood of the Plebswas originally written to fulfill one of
commented upon a draft of chapter .3. Jim Rogers, Joel Garver, Rev.
the conditions for a doctoral degree in Divinity at the University of
Jeff Meyers, and Rev .. Rich Bledsoe read substantial portions of the
Cambridge, my more fundamental inspiration came from elsewhere: from
thesis; I appreciate their encouragement, insight, and advice, even when
an historical model, a biblical passage, and an ambition ..
I, unwisely, did not take it. Interaction with Mark Horne has helped
The historical model, as I note in the preface to the thesis, was the
clarify a number of issues, and more general discussions with Michael
scholastic habit of examining the sacraments of the "Old Law" as a
Hanby and David Field were refreshing and challenging. Over a longer
preface to the theology of the Christian sacraments. In this approach, the
term, my theological imagination, such as it is, has been decisively
scholastics were building on the patristic and early medieval habit of
shaped and reshaped by the work of James B .. Jordan, who also
exploring sacramental theology in a typological framework, so that Old
commented extensively on an earlier draft of this work As a small
Testament signs and seals provided the basic categories for sacramental
token of my debt and gratitude, I dedicate this thesis to him.
theology.. Even though scholastics raised technical and philosophical
questions about the sacraments (causation, efficacy, validity, etc.), the nod
to the Old Testament sacraments meant that sacramental theology was
redemptive-historically qualified; sacramental theology was a central issue
in understanding the transition from old to new Since the medieval
period, that procedure has largely gone into abeyance, with consequences
that are, to my mind, nothing short of disastrous .. The Priesthood of the Plebs
is only the slightest beginning of the work that needs to be done, but it is,
I hope, a usefi.il beginning. Among the many projects that need to be
done is a thorough Christian treatment of the Levitical system, with a view
to grasping its significance for Christian liturgy and sacraments (as well as
other areas of Christian theology). The explosion of interest in Levitical
ritual, inspired equally by exegetes such as Jacob Milgrom and
anthropologists such as Mary Douglas, provides a wealth of material for
this work.
\1 x The Biblical passage that occupied a prominent place in the back of
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PREFACE The Priesthood oft he Plebs
centuries, the visitor treads ove;: the tombs of famous men and women
my mind was 1Peter3:21, where Peter;J:iaving compared baptism to the
buried under the floor stones, doorways and stained glass windows are
flood, wrote, "correspond to that, baptism now saves you." Peter himself
allegories in stone and glass. One could literally spend years studying the
qualified that statement, and theologians and exegetes have busily and
details of any single cathedral, and I aspired to write a book whose
sometimes anxiously added further qualifications. However hedged in
contours and lintels and cornices would delight and stimulate. Whether I
with qualifications, though, Peter's statement is disturbing for many
have come anywhere close to achieving this ambition, I leave to others to
Protestants, especially Reformed and evangelical, who would never, ever
judge.
say what Peter said. For much Protestant sacramental theology, it is in no
I had hoped to revise the thesis extensively before publication, but
sense true that "baptism now saves you." Yet, there it is in the text. One
the pressures of teaching and the distractions of my theological attention
can either qualify the statement out of existence, or repeat Peter's
deficit disorder have prevented that. My second option was to work
statement in a whisper, or let the text challenge assumptions and provoke
carefully through the whole thesis and write a kind of retrattiones,
revisions.. I chose the latter course: My goal was to provide a baptismal
interacting with my earlier opinions and highlighting weaknesses in the
theology that would make it seem perfectly natural to speak, in an offhand
argument, but the pressures of teaching and the distractions of my
way, about the salvific power of baptism. This served as a test for the
theological attention deficit disorder prevented that too.. So, I have opted
success of my project, and, by emphasizing the corporate, historical, and
to publish the thesis virtually unchanged from its original form, and to
bodily form of"salvation," I believe I have gone some way to passing that
include only this briefest and most superficial of prefaces. As the years
test. ·In a sense, the thesis is an exercise in systematic theology done "back
have passed and I have turned to other projects and topics, I have
to front," starting from sacramental theology and working back to refine
soteriology. concluded that I will never revise the thesis with the attention that it
would require, and I have concluded that it is better to put it before a
As I formulated it during my research, my ambition was to write "a
wider audience as is, since the alternative seems to be leaving it dormant
great cathedral of a book." Cathedrals impress because of their sheer size,
forever.
the audacity of the engineering, the breath-taking heights and lengths, and
As a slight bow in the direction of a retractione.s, I should note certain
I aspired to write a book on baptism with analogous reach and scope, one
sections where the argument is opaque, weak, or strained. First, the
that reflected a cathedral's grandeur, one that would leave readers awed (as
vignettes from the history of sacramental theology in chapter 1 are far too
I myself was) that God can throw down nations and plant new ones with a
compressed to make much sense to anyone unfamiliar with the debates. I
few drops of water .. Cathedrals are also incredibly intricate in detail; every
trust the main point will be plain enough, and readers who need more
nook and cranny has a story and often a story that stretches over
xii xm
PREFACE The Priesthood of the Plebs
Louth's extraordinary erudition .. He is quite right; chapter 6 is a far-too
background to grasp my point are urged to ~ook up the secondary sources
impressionistic survey of a highly complex development, and one that
cited in the footnotes.. I believe the discussion of Augustine in chapter 1
does not make any use of the massive and massively important recent
is useful, but I should have made it plainer that Augustine would not
work on Gregory VII and the medieval papacy. Yet, this edition includes
necessarily press the grammatical and musical metaphors in the ways that I
chapter 6, unrevised, and that reflects my conviction that, however much I
have done.
am mistaken in detail, something of extraordinary importance happened to
Chapter 2 is generally strong, I think, but the use of a kind of
the structure of the church and the understanding of baptism around the
algebraic notation now strikes me as odd.. At the time, it was an effort to
time of the Investiture Struggle, and that these developments determined
make the structure of my argument more explicit, but I see now that
for centuries the position and role of "laymen" in the church.. And I
explicitness is directly proportional to tediousness; the skeleton of chapter
2 shows through the flesh in an unseemly, not to say grotesque, manner. continue in my suspicion that this extraordinary something had enormous
The thrust of the argument in chapter 3 still seems airtight to me, but implications for the development of modern society, philosophy, and
some of the exegesis of particular passages could have been stronger.. As social theory. 1 Thoroughly defending that conviction and justifying that
in chapter 1, portions of chapter 3 suffer from an excessive compression suspicion would require at least a book -- a book on the interactions of
of the argument and perhaps too large an element of fancy. Chapters 4-5 sacramental theology, philosophy, ecclesiastical structure, and political
represent my effort to offer a baptismal theology that meets the test of 1 thought in the late medieval period, and the relevance of those
Peter 3:21, and also offers a framework for retrieving patristic language interactions for the development of modernity--, and that is a book I do
about baptism without falling into late medieval or Tridentine errors. A not expect to write for some time to come, if indeed I ever write it.
great deal more research would be needed to justify some of the claims, Perhaps a reader will find the claims of chapter 6 worthy of further study,
especially my account of the Greek city as a priestly organization (chapter and my thesis can be vindicated or corrected.
5). By and large, however, I still find these chapters persuasive .. I am sure that plenty of other weaknesses and errors are there to be
Durham's Andrew Louth, the external examiner for my thesis, found found, and I hope for readers attentive enough to spot them and
chapter 6 the weakest of all. After five chapters in which I took nothing charitable enough to correct me. As Augustine observed in the preface to
for granted and believed nobody without scrutiny, Louth observed, his de doctrina Christiana, "there would be no way for love, which ties
chapter 6 looks like the work of a credulous amateur (not Louth's words, people together in bonds of unity, to make souls overflow and as it were
exactly).. He complained about some of my sources, calling le Goff's
books "potboilers .. " Far be it from me to argue with someone with 1B esides, Jame s Jordan, to whom this book is dedicated, loved chapter 6..
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PREFACE The Priesthood of the Plebi
Finally, in addition to those thanked in the acknowledgments, I wish
intermingle with each other, if human be,ings learned riothing from other
to express my gratitude to Jonathan Barlow, who typeset this book,
human beings .. "
handled discussions and negotiations with the publisher, and did
***
everything else necessary to make this a reality.
Since submitting the thesis for my degree, I have published chapters
or sections of chapters in various journals.. My treatment of Augustine
Peniel Hall
from chapter 1 was published as "Conjugating the Rites: Old and New in
Trinity Season, 2001
Augustine's Theology of Signs" in the Calvin Theological]ournal34 (1999),
and the early sections of chapter 2 were published as "Servants of the
Sanctuary: Priesthood in the Old Testament'' in theJournalfor the Stuefy of
the Old Tertament (September 1999).. Chapter 3' s exegesis of Hebrews may
be found in ''Womb of the World: Baptism and the Priesthood of the
New Covenant in Hebrews 10:19-22" in theJournalforthe Stuefy of the New
Tertament 78 (2000) 49-65, and sections of chapters 1 and 5 appeared
under the title "Modernity and the Merely Social" in Pro Ecde.sia 9:3
(Summer 2000). A portion of my discussion of "poetic causation" may be
found in "Making and Mis-Making: Poesis in Exodus 25-40" in the
International Journal ofSystematic Theology 3:2 (November 2000), along with
additional material treating Milbank's concept of "poesis .. " Portions of
chapter 6 appeared in "The Gospel, Gregory VII, and Modern Theology,''
Modern Theology 19:1 Qanuary 2003), published by Blackwell Publishers
which retains copyright. In addition, I have published seve,ral other articles
that deal with related themes: "Marcionism, Postliberalism, and Social
Christianity," Pro Eccle.sia 8:1 (Winter 1999); "Christs Christened into
Christ: Priesthood and Initiation in Augustine and Aquinas,'' Studia
Liturgif:a (1999); and "'Framing' Sacramental Theology: Trinity and
Symbol,'' Westminster TheologicalJournal 62 (2000) ..
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The Priesthood ef the Plebs
ORIGINAL PREFACE TO THE THESIS
This is a thesis about baptism, written in the tradition, if not of
Thales or Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, at least that of Tertullian, who
called the waters that encompassed the primeval creation afigura bapti.smi
and inferred from the gospels that nunquam sine aqua Chri.stus (Evans 1964:
9, 21; De bapti.smo 4, 9). I will suggest that baptism covers the earth as the
waters cover the sea,
This is also a book about priesthood, among the most despised
concepts in modern theology, where priests are frequently brought to
public view only to serve as targets of ridicule and slander. That is no
matter: I take so firmly anti-modernist a stance as to suggest that together
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r,, baptism and priesthood fornish an exhilarating vantage point from which
to survey significant features of the topography of Scripture and history.
My strategy for reaching this location requires some explanation.
The range of literature relevant to the study of Christian baptism is
astonishingly wide. In its three monumental volumes, the Sacramenta
Bibliographia Internationalis lists tens of thousands of entries, most from the
past half~century, and for nearly two millennia before that every branch of
theology had something to say about baptism. More recently, sociologists
and cultural anthropologists have studied Christian sacraments, In the
face of this overwhelming mass of material, I have the audacity to
maintain that something important is missing: serious attention to the
rituals of Old Testament Israel. Preachers, catechists, and mystagogues
have always indulged in luxuriant meditation on sacramental types, but
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