Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? -- I Corinthians 15:29 (KJV)
Latter-day Saints are known for a variety of specific beliefs and religious practices that have traditionally separated them from historic Christianity, among them proxy baptism in the faith's temples for those who have died.While biblical scholars have long sought to understand the apostle Paul's reference to the ancient Corinthians regarding baptism for the dead, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been practicing it -- for more than 150 years.
With more than 100 LDS temples either existing, announced or under construction worldwide, the opportunity for faithful church members to participate in such baptisms is more widespread than ever before.
So it comes as no small bit of curiosity that a few scholars are looking more closely at the context of Paul's comments to ancient Christians.
One of those scholars is Richard DeMaris, professor of New Testament Studies in the department of theology at Valparaiso University. He says the passage in I Corinthians has been "marginalized or treated as an anomaly" for "the wrong reasons."
There's a distinct "anti-Mormon bias on the part of some Protestant scholars," DeMaris says.
Because modern critical biblical studies first emerged in Germany among Protestants before spreading to this country, that mindset is "what lies behind what I think is (also) kind of a Protestant bias . . . against Roman Catholic theology and practice. You don't have to scratch too deep" in the Protestant characterization of "oversacramentalism to see suspicion of Roman Catholic practice."
In addition to that, "Mormonism is regarded as rather cult-like by many liberal Protestant scholars, and (proxy baptism) is regarded as something distinctively Mormon. Many people don't want to lend any credence or support to the Mormon cause by saying it was an important feature of baptism at Corinth.
"I think it was very important and influenced Paul's thinking there. I think it should not be marginalized, and it has been so -- for the wrong reasons."
No solid archaeological evidence has emerged to verify that Christians at Corinth actually did proxy baptisms for the dead, DeMaris says. Yet there is plenty of evidence that, to the Greeks and Romans who inhabited Corinth during the time of Paul, "the fate of one's ancestors in the underworld was extremely important.
"There was a very strong sense of continuity and bond between the living and the dead -- a strong belief that the living had to do things on behalf of the dead to ensure their satisfactory entry into the underworld.
"Some of the most important archaeological things we have from that period are tombs. They invested a lot of money and energy in preparing their dead for burial, in providing for their smooth transition into the underworld through elaborate feasts and ceremonies."
Unlike LDS doctrine, which views baptism -- either personally or by proxy -- as one of the keys necessary to be "exalted" with God beyond the grave, DeMaris proposes that for Corinthians, ancient proxy baptism merely facilitated the transition from life to death.
In fact, "In the Greek religion before Christianity, Hades, or the underworld, was simply a place where someone goes after death. It doesn't seem to be a place of punishment but simply a resting place where someone goes," DeMaris says. "Early Christian tradition puts a very negative spin on Hades, but that notion only emerges in the first century. I'm not sure the Corinthian who converted to Christianity would be worried about an ancestor in the underworld as a place of punishment."
Because the ancients believed that the transition from the world of the living to the underworld could last years if not carried out properly, elaborate festivals and rituals were carried out "to make sure the dead person is properly disconnected from the world of living and makes transition peacefully."
When that didn't happen, the ancients believed "that person will pose problems for the world of living. That's where the notion of ghosts and half-living, half-dead creatures comes from; you have to get them through that transition smoothly, otherwise this person will come back and trouble you."
DeMaris doesn't quibble with LDS rationale for the modern practice, which is designed to "redeem the dead" through various proxy ordinances, including baptism. "I deal with the historical, rather than the contemporary."
Yet his acknowledgment of and interest in ancient proxy baptism hasn't gone unnoticed by LDS scholars at Brigham Young University, who invited him to lecture there in December.
As to whether the ancient Christians were doing proxy baptism in order to save ancestors who had not converted to Christianity, "we don't know who was baptized. It may be that Christians were doing this for people who had already been baptized in the community.
"There's so little evidence, so my position is speculative. But I think my conjecture fits the context better than saying they are baptizing on behalf of long dead ancestors. If these early Christians were like their pagan counterparts, they were not concerned about the long deceased -- they had already made the transition (from the world of the living to the underworld). It was the people caught in the transition that were problematic."