Ganoczy provides a complete overview of the history of Catholic sacramental theology and a clear explanation of contemporary theological developments. The classical teaching of the Council of Trent and its later theological formulations are compared to the new theological language of the Second Vatican Council and the personalist theologies of modern thinkers such as Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx. Introduction to Catholic Sacramental Theology moves clearly from (1) a sketch of the historical development of the sacramental concept, to (2) the basic elements in a general theory of the sacraments, to (3) discussion of the individual sacraments. In the last chapter, the author introduces his own expanded understanding of the sacraments. Using the concepts of modern communication theory, he envisions the sacraments as events of communication in the life of the concrete faith community in which each sacrament has its own particular form and purpose.

A general introduction to the whole study of sacraments that analyzes them from the perspective of the sacrament that is Christ and the Church. Ecumenical in its presentation, it sets out the complete teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and relates this to a wide range of Anglican and Protestant thought as well. The author brings together the teaching of Vatican II on the sacraments with the rich tradition of sacramental theology through the centuries.

As a multi-faceted introduction to sacramental theology, the purposes of this Handbook are threefold: historical, ecumenical, and missional. The forty-four chapters are organized into the following parts five parts: Sacramental Roots in Scripture, Patristic Sacramental Theology, Medieval Sacramental Theology, From the Reformation through Today, and Philosophical and Theological Issues in Sacramental Doctrine. Contributors to this Handbook explain the diverse ways that believers have construed the sacraments, both in inspired Scripture and in the history of the Church's practice. In Scripture and the early Church, Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics all find evidence that the first Christian communities celebrated and taught about the sacraments in a manner that Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics today affirm as the foundation of their own faith and practice. Thus, for those who want to understand what has been taught about the sacraments in Scripture and across the generations by the major thinkers of the various Christian traditions, this Handbook provides an introduction. As the divisions in Christian sacramental understanding and practice are certainly evident in this Handbook, it is not thereby without ecumenical and missional value. This book evidences that the story of the Christian sacraments is, despite divisions in interpretation and practice, one of tremendous hope.

Catholic sacramental doctrine has lost much of its credibility. Baptized people leave the church, adolescents stop attending shortly after they are confirmed, supposedly indissoluble marriages regularly dissolve, few go to confession, and many do not believe in transubstantiation. Drawing upon his decades-long study of the sacraments, Martos reveals how teachings that seemed rooted in the scriptures and Catholic life have become unmoored from the contexts in which they arose, and why seemingly eternal truths are actually historically relative. After carefully constructing Catholic teaching from the church's own documents, he deconstructs it by demonstrating how biblical passages were misconstrued by patristic authors and how patristic writings were misunderstood by medieval scholastics. The long process of misinterpretation culminated in the dogmatic pronouncements of the Council of Trent, which continues to dominate Catholic thinking about the church's religious ceremonies. If the sacraments are released from their dogmatic baggage, Martos believes that the spiritual realities they symbolize can be celebrated in any human culture without being tied to their traditional rites.

Everything one needs to know about Catholic theology can be found in this essential handbook. Biblically and historically based, ecumenically oriented, up to date, and easy to use, the book's eleven major categories contain more than 300 alphabetical, cross-referenced entries, each one to four pages in length. Index. Illustrations.

A comprehensive, innovative, and coherent vision of the sacraments that takes into account current biblical, theological, liturgical, and ministerial developments and challenges the reader to a new awareness of their spiritual power to transform communities and lives.

Sharing Peace brings together leading Mennonite and Catholic theologians and ecclesial leaders to reflect on the recent, first-ever international dialogue between the Mennonite World Conference and the Vatican. The search for a shared reading of history, theology of the church and its sacraments or ordinances, and understandings of Christ's call to be peacemakers are its most prominent themes. Contributors include: Scott Appleby (Kroc Institute, Notre Dame) Alan Kreider (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary) Helmut Harder (Mennonite co-chair of the international dialogue) Drew Christiansen, SJ (Georgetown University, Catholic delegate to the international dialogue) John Roth (Goshen College) John Cavadini (University of Notre Dame) C. Arnold Snyder (University of Waterloo) Mary Doak(University of San Diego) Elizabeth Groppe (Xavier University) Thomas Finger (author of A Contemporary Anabaptist Theology) Bishop Gabino Zavala (past president of Pax Christi USA) Duane Friesen (Bethel College, Kansas) Gerald Schlabach (University of St. Thomas) Mary Schertz (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary) Abbot John Klassen, OSB (Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota; co-chair of Bridgefolk) Margaret R. Pfeil is assistant professor of moral theology at the University of Notre Dame and a Faculty Fellow of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. She specializes in Catholic social thought. She is also a cofounder and resident of St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker House in South Bend, Indiana, and is on the board of Bridgefolk, a movement of Mennonites and Roman Catholics who come together to celebrate each other's practices and honor each other's contributions to the mission of Christ's church. Gerald W. Schlabach is professor of theology and director of the Justice and Peace Studies program at the University of St. Thomas in St.Paul, Minnesota. He is cofounder and executive director of Bridgefolk. His books include Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence (Liturgical Press, 2007) and Unlearning Protestantism: Sustaining Christian Community in an Unstable Age.

General Principles of Sacramental Theology addresses a current lacuna in English language theological literature. Bernard Leeming’s highly respected book Principles of Sacramental Theology was published more than sixty years ago. Since that time, there has been a noted decrease, especially in English language sacramental theology, in treatments of the basic topics and principles – such as the nature of the sacraments of signs, sacramental grace, sacramental character, sacramental causality, sacramental intention, the necessity and number of the sacraments, sacramental matter and form, inter alia – which apply to all of the sacraments. This book will be of use in seminary, graduate, and undergraduate courses. The sacraments play an irreplaceable role in pursuing a Universal Call to Holiness that is so central to Vatican II’s teaching.

In this book a leading liturgist gives a step by step commentary on Part Two of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He links liturgy with catechesis and with conversion, and discusses the ways in which the Church teaches and celebrates God's salvation and gives us a way of gospel living. Worship teaches in ways that intellectual arguments cannot. Since the Catechism connects God's creation and our new creation in Christ as a context for the liturgy, the author emphasizes the importance of celebrating and teaching liturgy within the contemporary culture of society. He sees the liturgical calling down of the Holy Spirit as a source of mission for the local Church and as an impetus towards participation in a specific community.

What motivates practice of the liturgy and sacramental rites of the church? Does the worship of God begin and end within each ritual enactment, or does the truth and value of sacramental celebration reside in the broader context of Christian life in church and society? For more than two decades, prominent Jesuit sacramental-liturgical theologian Bruce Morrill has explored the promise and problems inherent in the Second Vatican Council's call to renew liturgy's basic purpose--namely, the glorification of God and the sanctification of people. Morrill's fundamental argument is that this ancient Christian principle is of a piece, that divine glory and human holiness are, so to speak, two sides of a single coin. The value of liturgy and sacraments is depleted, if not lost, unless they function within a holistic practice of faith that seeks the upbuilding of ethical lives, personal and social. With numerous real-life examples plus references to current sociological studies, the chapters address both modern challenges to and biblical and traditional resources for the celebration of sacramental rites today.