Sacramentality

The Pentecostal worldview is often seen in confl ict with a sacramental worldview. In contrast, the authors of this article argue that sacramentality and reality are helpful terms that together illuminate the Pentecostal understanding of being-in-the-world. Th e essay delineates the challenges and opportunities in bringing both notions into dialogue and suggests that sacra-mentality is not an optional but a necessary component for a fuller understanding of Pentecostalism. Th e narrative underlying this proposal follows the tension between a 'this-is-that' and a 'this-is-not-that' hermeneutic characteristic of early modern-day Pentecostals. Central to such an endeavor is an understanding of how the dialogue between Pentecostal and sacramental theology informs and challenges both sides.

Daley, in a ‘historically minded age,’ argues for a figural reading of the Psalms and by extension, the entire Scripture today, building on the foundations laid by the early fathers. Yet, he does not repudiate the importance of the historical aspects of the text. In the end, he advocates for the balancing (even a mutual dependence) of both the spiritual, which he calls theological and the literal, which he calls biblical interpretations. This is what he believes constitutes patristic exegesis and therefore calls for returning ‘ad forte;’ to the sources. Even as a Roman Catholic, Daley has made valid arguments in the essay both for the literal, biblical camp and for the allegorical, theological. He even proposes a synergy of the two in order to arrive at hermeneutics that benefits the Body of Christ, the Church. Though Daley’s focus was the Psalms, he makes an argument for a figural interpretation of the Scripture, though without completely disregarding the historical importance.

This constructive project examines foundations in feminist relational ethics (with outside contributions from H. Richard Niebuhr’s The Responsible Self and Joseph Fletcher’s Situation Ethics), social theory, and Anglican sacramental ethics as a basis for developing a sacramental approach to sexual ethics.  Foundational studies are applied to the anomie of sexual abuse and violence, examining the social, spiritual, and moral impacts of shame.  In the context of Baptism and Eucharist—the “great sacraments” of the Anglican tradition—the constructive project explores what intimate relationships between human and divine can teach us about sexual intimacy. 

Baptismal aspects of formation, initiation of intimate covenanted relationship, and the liminal grace of anticipating the consummation of intimacy are examined.  Overlaps between Baptism and courtship, initiation of covenanted fidelity, and the liminal grace of anticipating the first moments of sexual intimacy in relationship are identified.  From the overlap, sacramental norms are developed, which tie into the articulation of the sacramental approach at the end of the constructive project. 

Next, Eucharist is examined in the same way as Baptism.  As a sacrament of intimate participation in transcendent interpenetration of boundaries between human and divine, Eucharist offers a sacramental foretaste of eschatological consummation that nourishes and reinvigorates Christian life.  Examining the overlap between Eucharistic moments of consummation, as they enrich the intimacy of relationship between human and divine, and human sexual intimacy, as it feeds from and back into relational intimacy, sacramental norms are identified. 

Finally, sex itself is examined sacramentally as a gift given by God in creation that draws humans into physical union (as the outward and visible sign), which offers deeper insight into the Trinitarian relationality of God (the inward and invisible grace).  Additional sacramental norms are identified specifically as they relate to sacramental sex.  Drawing all of the norms together, a sacramental sexual ethics is articulated.  Based on the norms, practical principles and maxims are developed.  The approach is tested in the final section by applying it to intimate same-sex relationships both as discussed in the Anglican Communion and as experienced by same-sex couples themselves.

Pentecostal-Charismatic (P-C) congregational music is a sonic and kinesthetic worship rite in the P-C liturgy that embodies the spirituality and affectivity characteristic of Pentecostalism. As sacramental, P-C congregational music is an opportunity for mediated encounter with God leading to transformation and union. The body in the performative action of worship and song serves as the sacramental sign, signifying the inner reality of communion, characterized by affective desire and longing for God. In offering their worship through music and song, P-C Christians experience the transformative encounter with God in their bodies and affections. As practice, Pentecostal music-making is a communal, synergistic action which, over time, form the beliefs and identity of the worshiper and community as they become oriented towards God in affective transformation. In participation with the work of God in the community, P-C worshipers are drawn deeper into the life of the Trinity and as their affections are transformed, they are thrust out in mission and witness to the world as a continued participation in God – the mission and eschatological life of the Triune God.

1 La prédication, ministère de lumière et de salut Il revient donc à un frère prêcheur de vous parler de la prédication. Je ne voudrais pas d'emblée vous décevoir, mais n'attendez pas que je vous livre ici toutes les ficelles du métier, j'en serai d'ailleurs bien incapable. Les traités d'éloquence sacrée ne doivent pas manquer dans vos bibliothèques, et même si ce genre littéraire peut nous sembler aujourd'hui un peu passé de mode, on trouve encore de belles contributions propres à le remettre au goût du jour -je songe par exemple à notre ancien Maître de l'Ordre Timothy RADCLIFFE, « Prédication : sortir de l'ennui » 1 (tout un programme… dont on a vite fait de s'exclure !) ou encore au frère Thierry-Dominique HUMBRECHT, Le théâtre de Dieu. Discours sans prétention sur l'éloquence chrétienne 2 . J'avoue pour ma part que je ne me sens pas prêt à prodiguer ce genre de conseils, qui reviennent souvent en définitive à celui de S. Paul : « faites comme moi », « montrez-vous mes imitateurs » 3 . Et le fait est que c'est surtout en imitant leurs aînés que les frères prêcheurs apprennent à prêcher.

The expression " sacramentality of the Word " entered the lexicon of the magisterium for the first time in the writings of Pope Benedict XVi, at paragraph 56 of the Post-Synodal Apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini. This article, which summarizes the central proposal of a doctoral thesis*, tries to show that in the Summa theologiae St. Thomas Aquinas offers speculative instruments to resolve this issue, which he has not put in these terms, but which in turn helps to better explain his definition of sacraments and his notion of sacra doctrina.

Abstract: In the last centuries our modern world oscillated between the belief in disenchanted strategies of bureaucratic control and surveillance, and the celebration of iconoclastic ruptures that were supposed to preserve our sense of freedom and dignity. Yet, the equilibrium between these poles has fallen out of balance after the turn of the millennium. While the obsession with control has released concerted efforts to replace our supposedly irrational intelligence by the ‘artificial intelligence’ of digital technologies, the implementation of ICT technologies in our everyday life has undermined the iconoclastic conviction that artefacts are merely tools. Our smartphones have a ‘magic life’ on their own – be it that they afford a life that we appreciate, or that they nudge us into a life that we abhor. This challenge requires us to recover our ability to distinguish between idolatrous attachments, and the prudent use of ‘magic objects’, that is consistent with our natural desire to transform our life for the better. The following essay will discuss the question to what extent the basic assumptions of the confessionalized religions of the post-Reformation era distract us from the task to engage with this challenge. Moreover, it will question the modern inclination to replace the engagement with sacramental objects by the engagement with pious ‘master signifiers’: authoritative substitutes of the ‘body of Christ’, like the Eucharistic host, the Bible or secular party books, that reduce the attachment to religious traditions to a matter of formal belief and the submission to an authoritative system of clerical, bureaucratic, or (today) robotic surveillance.


Abstract: In den letzten Jahrhunderten oszillierte unsere moderne Welt zwischen dem Glauben an entzauberte Strategien der bürokratischen Kontrolle und Überwachung und der Begeisterung für ikonoklastische Brüche, die unser Gefühl von Freiheit und Würde bestärkten. Doch das Gleichgewicht zwischen diesen Polen ist nach der Jahrtausendwende verloren gegangen. Während wir in den Sog digitaler Kontrolltechnologien gerieten, hat die Implementierung digitaler Technologien in unser Alltagsleben die ikonoklastische Überzeugung untergraben, dass Artefakte lediglich Werkzeuge seien. Unsere Smartphones haben ein „magisches Eigenleben“. Diese Herausforderung verlangt uns ab, zwischen idolatrischen Anhänglichkeiten und einem weisen Umgang mit „magischen Objekten“ zu unterscheiden, der unserem natürlichen Verlangen nach einem guten Leben förderlich ist. Der folgende Essay geht der Frage nach, inwieweit die Grundüberzeugungen der konfessionalisierten Religionen des Gutenbergzeitalters von der Aufgabe ablenken, sich dieser Herausforderung zu stellen. Darüber hinaus stellt er die moderne Neigung in Frage, den alltäglichen Umgang mit sakramentalen Objekten durch die Fokussierung auf fromme „Herrensignifikanten“ zu ersetzen: autoritative Substitute des „Leibes Christi“ oder andere identitätsstiftende Artefakte, die religiöse Überzeugungen auf eine Frage des formalen Glaubens sowie der Unterwerfung unter ein autoritatives System klerikaler, bürokratischer oder (heute) roboterhafter Überwachung reduzieren.

In the last 500 years our modern world oscillated between the belief in 'disenchanted' strategies of bureaucratic control and surveillance, and the celebration of iconoclastic ruptures that are supposed to preserve our sense of freedom and dignity. Yet, the equilibrium between these poles has fallen out of balance after the turn of the millennium. While the obsession with control has released concerted efforts to replace our supposedly irrational intelligence by the 'artificial intelligence' of digital technologies, the implementation of ICT technologies in our everyday life has undermined the iconoclastic conviction that artefacts are merely tools. Our smartphones have a 'magic life' on their own – be it that they afford a life that we appreciate, or that they nudge us into a life that we abhor. This challenge requires us to recover our ability to distinguish between idolatrous attachments, and the prudent use of 'magic objects' that is consistent with our natural desire to transform our life for the better. The following essay will discuss the question to what extent the basic assumptions of the confessionalized religions of the post-Reformation era distract us from the task to engage with this challenge. Moreover it will question the modern inclination to replace the engagement with sacramental objects by the engagement with pious 'master signifiers': authoritative substitutes of the 'body of Christ', like the Eucharistic host, the Bible or secular party books, that reduce the attachment to religious traditions to a matter of formal belief and the submission to an authoritative system of clerical, bureaucratic, or (today) robotic surveillance.

The chapter offers a comparison of an Orthodox and a Roman Catholic approach to the foundations of sacramental theology. With each theologian the author analyses an underlying epistemology, a type of relational and symbolic understanding of God, and then asks how these influence preference either for the church or for the world as a starting point for sacramental theology. In her conclusion she suggests how both approaches could complement each other.

The present article inquires whether or not the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia represents a change in the traditional doctrine of the Church on the sacrament of marriage. Thus, it limits itself to the theological discussion on the exhortation, thereby disregarding the pastoral debate around it. The hypothesis is that there is a significant change in Pope Francis " teaching, inasmuch as he ascribes marital love a much more fundamental character of sacramentality than his predecessors did. Chapters four and five of the text reflect such change in papal discourse and are at the core of the present analysis. Although one can verify a certain reluctance on the part of the Pope in terms of defining the central question that is postulated in this study, the exhortation provides evidence for such a further development in the sacramental doctrine of marriage.

Dominant trends within the philosophical debate over personhood and identity tend to discount the significance and meaning of the human body and often slip into dualistic conceptions. I will argue that a Catholic theology of the body challenges many of the prevalent understandings in bioethics today. Such a notion takes Christ's Incarnation as its foundation and seeks to develop an account of the human body in the context of the call to communion imprinted on humanity as made in the image of the Trinitarian communion of love. Such a conception counteracts forms of utilitarian or technological reductionism of the person. While Catholic bioethicists will need to consider how such an account will have practical applicability to cases, the call to communion ought to be fostered through the liturgical life of the Church, which enables Catholic bioethicists to develop a liturgical worldview that guards against devaluations of the dignity of the human person.

Retomamos con este artículo la idea de la Iglesia como sacramento en el marco de la Nueva Evangelización, ofreciendo perspectivas a tener en cuenta para la eclesiología y para la pastoral en nuestros días. Para ello, hacemos un repaso de la concepción sacramental de la Iglesia en los previos a la celebración del concilio Vaticano II, el tratamiento recibido en el Concilio y su evolución en la teología posconciliar, en la que se constata un cierto "eclipse" en la eclesiología de la comprensión sacramental de la Iglesia. Analizaremos las causas que han llevado a la "crisis del pensar sacramental" y la necesidad de su recuperación como elemento esencial para hacer una adecuada presentación de la realidad de la Iglesia en nuestros días.

With this article, we return to the idea of the Church as sacrament in the framework of the New Evangelization. We offer perspectives to take into account for ecclesiology and for pastoral care today. For this purpose, we review the sacramental conception of the Church prior to the celebration of the Second Vatican Council, the treatment received at the Council and its evolution in post-conciliar theology, in which a certain "eclipse" is observed in the ecclesiology of the sacramental understanding of the Church. We will analyze the causes that have led to the "crisis of sacramental thinking" and the need of its recovery as an essential element to make an adequate presentation of the reality of the Church in our day.

Under den den reformwilligen deutschen Bischöfen finden sich nicht wenige, die dafür halten, um des Von-hier-Seins willen das Anstößige und Sperrige an der Kirche, worunter vor allem das sakramentale Amt in der jetzigen Form, die normative Ethik (moralische Unbedingtheiten: praecepta negativa) und fixierte Dogmatik gehören, aufzugeben. Damit wäre der Weg einer forcierten Selbstsäkularisierung statt der von Papst Benedikt geforderten Entweltlichung beschritten, in der Hoffnung, dass die Welt dem Beifall zollt.
Es soll mir hier darum gehen, ein sakramentales Amtsverständnis zu skizzieren, wobei ein funktionales als Kontrastfolie dient, um das Eigene des katholischen Verständnisses vom Weiheamt herauszuarbeiten. Für die mit dem Wesen des Priestertums korrespondierende ehelose Lebensform wird auf die relevante Forschungsliteratur verweisen.

Robert Sokolowski wrote that biblical words activate the presence of God. But can we speak of the "sacramentality of the word" analogous to the sacrament itself? This paper collects reflections on the "making present" of the word of God intra mysteriorum celebrationem. This issue is related to the theme of the relationship between past and present in the Eucharist, which was dealt with by Sokolowski. The article summarizes this philosopher's views on the Eucharistic presence, in dialogue with which it then reflects on the presence of Christ in the word of God. From the "Passovercentricity" of the Holy Scriptures stems a kind of making present the anticipatory selfgiving of God in the events to which the inspired texts testify. The liturgy of the word must lead to the climactic event of Passover and its sacramental making present. There can be no question of "two presences" of the Lord at Mass. The words of institution from the Last Supper have a role in the actualization of the Passover, while the inspired words are not in the same way "instituting" words. It is only in their inner orientation that they lead to the mystery of Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament.

"...The aim here is to open the question of whether, in the historical drift away from full meals and toward sign acts that gestured at meals while relying more exclusively on signification as the engine of their efficacy, something crucial has been lost to eucharistic theology, including the sacramental nature of Jesus' radical practices of eating. Practical sacramentality is a conceptual tool to help us reclaim God's gracious activity in and through transformative, practical acts."

In the major scenes of spiritual warfare in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien shows an understanding of the material infused with the spiritual guided to respond to the multi-dimensional axes of personal intellects and wills. Yet Tolkien always allows room for uncertainty; he leaves the act of assent to his readers.

The expression " sacramentality of the Word " entered the lexicon of the magisterium for the first time in the writings of Pope Benedict XVi, at paragraph 56 of the Post-Synodal Apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini. This article, which summarizes the central proposal of a doctoral thesis*, tries to show that in the Summa theologiae St. Thomas Aquinas offers speculative instruments to resolve this issue, which he has not put in these terms, but which in turn helps to better explain his definition of sacraments and his notion of sacra doctrina.

The goal of this article is to contribute to current theological reflections on the category in which the Second Vatican Council describes the historical development of the Church: the Living Tradition. In dialogue with the social sciences we attempt to explore this Church existence in its openness as unsaturation of its present form. The interest in perceiving the Church as an open system and as an emerging structure is supported by both the theological view and the social sciences view. The social sciences point out the need for coherent cooperation between the human factor and the products of reification, which form the tradition of every intersubjective community of people united by common interest. This openness of the Church, of its life and of the theological reflection outlines a new direction in thinking about the Church’s service to humanity in its role as the sacrament of salvation for the entire world.