50 Fun Facts About Baptism

The word 'baptism' comes from a Greek word meaning what?

The verb baptizo was used for ships sinking and cloth going into dye as well as for ritual washing.

The baptism of Jesus is described in which three Gospels?

John's Gospel has the Baptist bear witness to the Spirit descending rather than narrating the event; scholars count the baptism among the two most historically certain events of Jesus's life.

In which river was Jesus baptised?

The traditional site, Al-Maghtas or Bethany Beyond the Jordan, sits on the east bank in modern-day Jordan and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

In the Gospel accounts, the Spirit descends on Jesus at his baptism in the form of which bird?

Luke insists it came in the 'bodily form' of the bird, not merely 'like' one, and a voice from heaven speaks in all three synoptic accounts.

What did John the Baptist famously eat in the wilderness?

He wore camel's hair, and the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus identify him as the returning Elijah foretold by Malachi.

Which ruler ordered the beheading of John the Baptist?

John had condemned his marriage to Herodias, his brother's ex-wife; the historian Josephus places the execution at the fortress of Machaerus.

What name does Josephus give the daughter of Herodias who danced for Herod?

Later art and opera, from Titian to Richard Strauss, made the name and the platter inseparable.

Which small sect reveres John the Baptist as its greatest prophet and practises frequent purifying baptism?

They call every river 'yardena' after the Jordan and, by their own account, left the Jordan Valley in the first century AD.

The baptismal words 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit' are called what?

It follows the Great Commission at the end of Matthew; Oneness Pentecostals instead baptise in the name of Jesus only.

Baptism by sprinkling water on the head is called what?

The third-century bishop Cyprian ruled that the amount of water used made no difference to a baptism's validity.

Between the 12th and 14th centuries, which mode became the normal way to baptise in Western Europe?

Immersion was still being practised in the West into the 16th century and remains standard in Eastern Christianity.

Traditionally, how many times is a person immersed or poured over during baptism, and why?

The rite is also called christening, a word usually reserved for infants.

Which of these Christian groups does NOT practise water baptism at all?

The Salvation Army and some Unitarians also do without it; Quakers reject all outward sacraments, including the Eucharist.

Why, per its founders, does the Salvation Army not celebrate baptism or communion?

Its officers do conduct marriages, but even marriage is not counted as a sacrament.

The Anabaptists of the 16th century got their name because they insisted on what?

'Ana' is Greek for 're-'; the movement's beliefs were set out in the Schleitheim Confession of 1527.

In which city did Conrad Grebel baptise George Blaurock on 21 January 1525, founding the Anabaptists?

Blaurock immediately baptised several others; the movement's Schleitheim Confession followed in 1527 and its author Michael Sattler was executed soon after.

Which three groups are direct descendants of the early Anabaptists?

Baptists also practise believer's baptism but have different roots; pouring rather than immersion remains the norm among the Amish.

In which city did John Smyth's exiled English congregation begin the Baptist tradition in 1609?

Thomas Helwys later took the congregation back to England and argued that church and state should be kept separate.

Which 16th-century Swiss reformer regarded baptism and the Lord's Supper as merely symbolic?

Luther, by contrast, kept baptism as a full sacrament, one of the fault lines of the Reformation.

In Eastern Christianity, the anointing that Western churches call confirmation happens when?

Western churches usually wait until the child reaches the age of reason or adolescence, unless an adult is being baptised.

The consecrated oil used to anoint the newly baptised in Catholic and Orthodox churches is called what?

The name comes from the Greek for anointing, the same root as 'Christ', meaning the anointed one.

Latter-day Saints are baptised no earlier than what "age of accountability"?

The church also requires that the person performing the baptism hold its priesthood, and does not recognise other churches' baptisms.

Latter Day Saint proxy baptism for the dead is based on a verse in which New Testament book?

The practice dates from 1840 and is performed only in dedicated temples, on fonts that rest on twelve sculpted oxen.

Latter-day Saint temple fonts rest on twelve oxen, following which object in Solomon's Temple?

The oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel, as described in 2 Chronicles.

How many sides do many baptismal fonts have, echoing the day of Christ's resurrection?

The shape also echoes circumcision on the eighth day; octagonal fonts became the norm from the 14th century.

Which fourth-century Roman building, the first built specifically for baptisms, set the octagonal model?

Its central font is ringed by eight porphyry columns, and Italian baptisteries copied the plan from the fourth century on.

Michelangelo said the Florence Baptistery's east doors were fit for 'the gates of Paradise'. Who sculpted them?

Andrea Pisano made the south doors; the building is dedicated to John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence.

Which poet, baptised in the Florence Baptistery, hoped in vain to return there for a laurel crown?

Florentine infants were once baptised in large batches on Holy Saturday and Pentecost in a five-basin font at the centre of the building.

The left-hand angel in Verrocchio's 'Baptism of Christ' is credited to which young pupil?

Leonardo probably also painted much of the background in oil while the rest of the panel is tempera; it hangs in the Uffizi.

Piero della Francesca's 'Baptism of Christ', with its dove hovering like a cloud, hangs in which museum?

It was painted for a monastery in Sansepolcro, the artist's home town, which may be the town shown in the background.

Which Roman emperor delayed baptism until his deathbed in 337 to wash away his reign's sins?

He had hoped to be baptised in the Jordan itself; in the end an Arian bishop, Eusebius of Nicomedia, did it.

Saint Augustine was baptised at the Easter Vigil of 387 in Milan by which bishop?

His son Adeodatus was baptised alongside him; Augustine later argued, against Cyprian, that converts from schismatic groups need not be re-baptised.

In which city was Clovis, king of the Franks, baptised around AD 500?

French kings were crowned there for centuries afterwards; Clotilde was later made a saint for her role.

The mass baptism of the people of Kiev in 988 followed the conversion of which ruler?

He was baptised in Chersonesus in Crimea after a deal to marry the Byzantine emperor's sister, Anna, then went home and baptised his family and city.

Who led the 597 mission from Rome that converted Æthelberht of Kent?

His Frankish wife Bertha was already a Christian, which may be why Pope Gregory chose Kent for the mission.

Godparents at baptism can be traced back to about which year?

The Spanish 'compadre' literally means co-father, and the French call godparents parrain and marraine.

The English word 'gossip' originally meant what?

It comes from 'godsib', a god-sibling, the same relationship the Spanish call compadre and the French parrain.

On Epiphany in Bulgaria and Greece, a priest throws what into the water for young men to race after?

Bulgarians call the day Yordanovden, 'Day of Jordan'; in Ethiopia the same feast is Timkat, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019.

The Ethiopian Orthodox festival of Timkat celebrates what event?

Every Ethiopian altar holds a tabot, and UNESCO added the festival to its intangible heritage list in 2019.

The phrase 'baptism of fire' comes from the words of John the Baptist in which Gospel chapter?

He promised one mightier than himself who would baptise 'with the Holy Ghost, and with fire'; soldiers later borrowed the phrase for a first battle.

Who plays the baby in The Godfather's baptism scene?

The director's infant daughter appears uncredited; Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor plays over the killings, and Modern Family later parodied the scene.

When a ship is 'christened', what is traditionally broken over the bow?

In 2014 the Queen named HMS Queen Elizabeth with a bottle of Islay single malt instead, because the ship was built in Scotland.

An 'emergency baptism' of a dying newborn may be performed by whom?

Catholic teaching also recognises a 'baptism of desire' for catechumens who die before the rite and 'baptism by blood' for unbaptised martyrs.

The Jewish ritual bath from which Christian baptism partly emerged is called what?

Texts from Qumran describe washing, sprinkling and immersion; John the Baptist emerged from that Second Temple world of ritual purification.

Which Pentecostal group baptises in the name of Jesus only, rather than with the Trinitarian formula?

They cite Peter's preaching of baptism in Jesus' name; Trinitarian churches generally do not accept these baptisms as valid.

What is the Mandaean name for their frequent full-immersion purification rite?

Mandaean sources say the community left the Jordan Valley in the 1st century AD.

In Catholic teaching, martyrdom is counted as a saving 'baptism of' what?

Baptism of desire covers those who die while preparing for the sacrament, alongside ordinary sacramental baptism with water.

Jehovah's Witnesses regard no baptism performed by other churches after which year as valid?

They hold that they became the one true church of Christ from that date and that the rest of 'Christendom' is false religion.

Where are most Jehovah's Witness baptisms performed?

Elders use special pools, or sometimes rivers, lakes or the ocean; Kingdom Hall baptisms are rare.

In Pentecostalism, baptism with the Holy Spirit is identified with what?

Methodists instead use the phrase for the second work of grace, entire sanctification.