Customer Reviews

Symbol and Sacrament: A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Existence

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While this is not an easy book to read, I found it a fountain of profound insights and intriguing ideas. This is "state of the art" theology; an inquiry into God and sacramental life which rather than being afraid of contemporary continental philosophy and psychoanalytic thought, embraces them in an impassioned effort to bring to light what ultimately is beyond words. When I feel like giving up on Christianity because of its dogmatism and naivite`, I remember this book, and leave the door open.

Louis-Marie Chauvet's reinterpretation of sacraments through a Heideggerian lens provides a postmetaphysical context in which Christianity can remain a vital force in a postmodern world. In the distinction between "market exchanges" and "symbolic exchanges" one is reminded of market economies and gift economies. This book is incredibly dense but exceptionally well organized. It avoids gnostic denigration of bodily existence, instead affirming the inherent goodness of physical existence and the "liminal position" of the body. I read this book alongside Poetry, Language, Thought (Perennial Classics) and The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays and The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion which provided an even richer context for this profound work on sacramentality.

This work is, indeed, a scholarly effort, but moreover it is a part of a tradition of scholarly effort. This book is an excellent example of theology (another academic discipline) attempting to transcend metaphysics in the way that Heidegger claims he can. Chauvet is clear in his ideas, if not concise--the book is rather long. However, Chauvet smartly and systematically applies his intellectual and spiritual faculties to exploring what a serious understanding of Heidegger's descrpition of the world would mean for theology, particularly sacramental theology.

At the very least, the work offers a fascinating perspective on the influence of philosophy on theology. At its best, the book offers a deeper, more comprehensive, and richer understanding of both (insofar as they are separable, which may be not at all) Christianity itself as well as institutionalized Christianity, a much maligned (and perhaps needlessly and ignorantly maligned) tradition.

I just find this book very interesting. The first part is a dialog with Existentialism, specially Heidegger.
I am particularly interested in the second part. Chauvet shows how Christian identity is a 'tripod' formed by Scripture, Sacrament and Practice (ethics). The dynamic interaction between these three elements is what Christian existence is all about. I found very compelling the connection between sacraments (specially Eucharist) and Ethics. There is a particular Eucharistic Ethics, as Irenaeus and Augustine showed long ago, that flows out from Liturgical practice. This is not an sacrificial exchange, but an existential sacrifice inspired in Christ's own offering. I believe this Eucharistic Ethics has to be deepened and clarified in many Christian communities.
I have not read part III and IV, but they look very promising.
Jaime Tatay

. . .but I am far from convinced.

I consider myself to be a fairly bright guy. I'll even admit that, like Yogi, I'm a little smarter than your average bear. With this text, however, either I'm totally lost, or the author is trying to stretch things.

This is an English translation of the writing of a French priest who is basing his theology of the Sacraments on a French translation of a German (non-Christian) philosopher. Can you see already difficulties here?

The result is an utterly incomprehensible study of the relationship of Sacramental theology to Heiddegarian thought. Skip this one, and turn instead to Edward J. Kilmartin's book on Eucharistic theology in the Western Church.