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Baptism

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A rite of initiation using water, signifying purification, rebirth, and entry into a religious community.

Detailed Definition
Baptism is a central initiation rite in Christianity, commonly performed through immersion, pouring, or sprinkling with water in the name of the Trinity. It evokes cleansing, death to an old identity, and emergence into a renewed life among the faithful. In poetry, baptism can transform a river, rainstorm, or basin into a threshold between selves. Its water may carry memory away, return a lost name, or make the natural world resemble a witnessing congregation gathered around a new beginning.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet may use “baptism” to describe Christian initiation through water; In a poem, baptism can symbolize rebirth after grief, exile, or moral change; A poet might write, “The river baptized her name into a new beginning”; The term can also create imagery of cleansing, immersion, and emergence without describing a literal church ceremony
Additional Notes
Baptism uses water as a symbol of cleansing, death to an old life, and rebirth into faith. Poetic references may also evoke rivers, immersion, names, covenant, and the passage from innocence to responsibility.
Other Meanings of “Baptism”
Also Known As
Holy Baptism Christening
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