Roman Catholic and Aladura Baptismal Doctrines: A Comparative Study in the Nigerian Context

Baptism is an integral part of Christianity. Most Christian denominations accept and practise water baptism invoking the Trinity, as an initiation into the life of Christ and their church. Although both the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and Aladura Churches (AC) practise water baptism with a scripture-based Trinitarian formula, there are differences in understanding and theology. This leads to problems, such as re-baptism on the part of AC, and conditional baptism by the RCC. Thus, this thesis researches and documents each church's sacramental theology, doctrine and practice and compare the two, so as to use the resulting conclusion of compatibility as a basis for constructive dialogue between the AC and the RCC in Nigeria. Since Unity does not necessitate uniformity, if properly handled and open-heartedly embraced, such dialogue could lead to better mutual understanding of each other’s doctrine and theology and promotion of ecumenical unity reaching back to John 17:20–21.Master of Theology (ThM