earticle

영어

The Early Church practiced the catechumenate, baptismal rites, and mystagogy in the richly articulated baptismal rites. In searching for the methodology of baptismal faith formation, this paper observes Cyril of Jerusalem’s Mytagogical Catecheses. This observation may be a clue to the current church pastoral and pedagogical ministry―to develop a mystagogy in helping people to live an ongoing baptismal life, thus building up a baptismal community. In fact, mystagogy has pastoral and pedagogical dimensions. To achieve its task, mystagogy needs a rhetorical device to properly interpret the experience of the baptized on the rites of baptism in a wider cultural context, thus to develop continuously hermeneutical tools. Cyril and other early church Fathers recognized the effectiveness of mystagogy to translate experience into a dynamic power to transform daily life: experience first, and instruction later. Through investigating the methodology of baptismal faith formation in Cyril’s Mystagogical Catecheses, this paper suggests six features of Cyril’s mystagogy: (1) scriptural/ biblical faith formation, (2) ritual faith formation in images and symbols, (3) participatory faith formation in community, (4) sensual/ experiential faith formation, and (5) mystagogical/ continual faith continual, and (6) spatial-stational faith formation. Even our mystagogy requires these things.