Joint Liturgical Studies
Joint Liturgical Studies offers a valuable contribution to the
study of liturgy. Each issue considers a particular aspect of
liturgical development, such as the origins of the Roman rite,
Anglican Orders, welcoming the Baptised, and Anglican Missals. It
is aimed at all with an academic interest in worship.
It is published twice a year in partnership with the Alcuin
Club, which promotes the study of Christian liturgy, and the Group
for Renewal of Worship (GROW).
Volume 84: Ambrose of Milan on Baptism: A
Study of De Sacramentis and De Mysteriis
James Steven
Ambrose, fourth century Bishop of Milan, has a reputation in the
21st century to place him among the most famous of Christian
leaders of his century, and the liturgy of the diocese of Milan,
which almost alone in the 'Western Church' has remained distinct
from the Roman Use, is known as the 'Ambrosian Rite'. Ambrose's
personal fame is enhanced by the extraordinary way by which he
became bishop by acclamation and by his baptizing the even more
famous Augustine in 387. But his main legacy to us is his writings,
chiefly his De Sacramentis and De Mysteriis. Liturgists have prized
these as providing some of the earliest eucharistic texts and
expositions of them. However, they are actually baptismal homilies,
and the overall teaching of Ambrose on baptism forms the theme of
this Study. A major feature of that teaching is the use of
allegory, and Ambrose interestingly draws upon areas of biblical
evidence which few commentators would relate to baptism today.
While exploring Ambrose's wide-ranging use of scriptural
stories, James Steven here provides further examples of what he
calls 'trajectories', or directions set by Ambrose's methodology.
The fullest one relates Ambrose's own baptismal practice as
officiating bishop to his teachings in the homilies; and the most
speculative (and ultimately frustrating) instance is the question
as to whether Ambrose used an actual physical cross to illustrate
his baptismal practice and teaching.
After ordination in the Church of England in 1987, James Steven
taught liturgy at Trinity College, Bristol, and at King's College,
London, before becoming in 2011 Tutor in Liturgy and Worship at
Sarum College, Salisbury. For many years he belonged to GROW and
contributed to its publications. His doctorate came through studies
of the impact of the Charismatic Movement on selected Anglican
parishes. A scholar of wide interests, he won applause for his
paper on Ambrose on baptism at the Society for Liturgical Studies
conference in 2014, and thus was commissioned to write this
Study.
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