Recent Sacramental Theology: A Review Discussion*

RECENT SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY: A REVIEW DISCUSSION * HIS SURVEY OF SOME recent writings in sacramental eology focuses on issues of methodology: the direc.tions eing taken by contemporary systematic reflection on the Christian sacraments, the relation of sacramental theology to other areas of theology, the impact of liturgical studies on sacramental studies, and aspects of pastoral practice. Consideration of the proposals of recent writers also provides the occasion for suggesting something of the shape contemporary systematic study of the sacraments ought to take given the present state of discussion. I Almost two decades ago Matthew O'Connell described the shift then underway in American sacramental theology as resulting in part from the newly promulgated Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican II and in part from the translation into English of continental authors (especially Rahner and Schillebeeckx). Under the influence of these (and other factors) there was a shift *The books discussed are: Regis Duffy, Real Presence: Worship, Sacraments and Commitment (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982); Francis A. Eigo, ed., The Sacraments: God's Love and Mercy Actualized (Philadelphia: Villanova University Press, 1979); Tad Guzi.e, The Book of Sacramental Basics (New York/ Ramsey: Paulist Press, 1981); Joseph Martos, Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Catholic Church (New York: Doubleday, 1981); Colman O'Neill, Sacramental Realism: A General Theory of Sacraments (Wilmington : Wm. Glazier, 1983); R. Kevin Seasoltz, New Liturgy, New Laws (Oollegeville : The Liturgical Press, 1980); Juan Luis Segundo, The Sacraments Today. Vol. Four: A TheOlogy for Artisans of a New Humanity, trans., John Drury (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1975); Michael J. Taylor, ed., The Sacraments: Readings in Contemporary Sacramental Theology (New York: Alba House, 1981), Raymond Vaillancourt, Toward a Reiriewal af Sacramental Theology, trans., Matthew O'Connell (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1979); George S. Worgul, From Magic To Metaphor: A Validation of the Christian Sacraments (New York/ Ramsey: Paulist Press, 1980). 592 RECENT SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY 593 away from the traditionally ·expressed synthesis of de sacramentis in genere to a new theology of the sacraments framed in terms of personalist and existential philosophies and centering on Christ as the primary and fundamental sign (sacrament) of God's love as experienced in the life of the Church (also itself a sacrament of the presence of God) . In this new theology the language of ontology generally yielded to that of encounter and union. In addition the distinctive moments of the mystery of redemption in Christ-his life, passion, death and resurrection- were seen as unified in the one mystery of redemption, a mystery experienced in a privileged way through the sacramental life of the community of Christ, the Church.1 What O'Connell offered as the new insights of sacramental thinking in 1965 may be said to be the working assumptions and foundation for much of the work represented in recent literature on sacraments. Precisely these points are at the heart of Raymond Vaillancourt's Toward a Renewal of Sacramental Theology. After a sketchy account of the liturgical renewal and a set of questions which liturgy poses for the discipline of sacramental theology, a consideration of the relationship of Christology, ecclesiology and anthropology to sacraments forms the central part of this book. Fielding a synthesis of sorts, Vaillancourt reiterates his basic thesis that sacraments are signs: of a Church which reveals, actualizes, and celebrates the revelation of God, of Christ, who through the Church reveals, makes real and celebrates the mystery of God as incarnate in humanity, and of human persons who discover who God is, who allow themselves to be transformed by God, and who celebrate the mystery of God in communion with the Christian assembly (123) . While there is Httle that is original in Vaillancourt's discussion (and one might well criticize some over-simplification in his review of the historical evolution of the liturgy and sacramental theology) his book contains some helpful pastoral applications inspired by the theology of the sacraments (especially with reference to the requirements for sacraments, 81-83). In a more strictly theological vein the developments summarized by O'Connell are deepened and explored in two essays by Kenan 1 Matthew O'Connell, "New Perspectives in Sacramental Theology," Worship (1965)' 196...