Sacramentum Mundi Online

1. Concept and regulations of canon law. Though the magisterium has paid little attention to the sacramentais (except insofar as the ceremonies of the Church are defended in general, e.g., D 665, 856, 943, 954, 965 and Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium [on the liturgy], arts. 60ff.), the Code of Canon Law reflects the practice and the theology of the sacramentals as hitherto in vogue. They must now be examined in the light of the Constitution on the Liturgy and the questions posed by present-day theology, dogmatic and pastoral. a) Notion. According to Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 60, t…

Part of Sacraments: 1. The Sacraments in General 2. Mystery Theology Mystery theology is the attempt at a synthesis of all the doctrines of faith from the point of view of the mysterium, i.e., of God’s action by which he has effected our salvation in Christ and which is transmitted to us in the Church, particularly in its sacraments and liturgical celebrations. The initiator of this synthesis in contemporary theology was Odo Casei, a monk of Maria Laach, who died in 1948. At first he met with much opposition, but in the long r…

Part of Sacraments: 1. The Sacraments in General 2. Mystery Theology A. Introduction and Historical Survey The sacraments, in the sense here understood, and as defined in the theology of the Church, are the seven vital actions of the Church in its liturgy which are efficacious for salvation: Eucharist, baptism, confirmation, holy orders, matrimony and the anointing of the sick. The theology of the sacraments, which began in Scripture, was constantly developed in the course of history and was mainly stimulated b…

1. History of religions. The misunderstanding of the holy and also of everything to do with the spirit meant for rationalism and inferior types of Idealism that the divine mdash if spoken of at all — was as an idea beyond the realm of the concrete human history and that its divinity consisted precisely in being always and everywhere unrelated to earthly reality. In contrast to this position the religions down through the history of man have, in spite of all their differences in detail, been unanimo…

Part of Sacrifice: 1. Concept of Sacrifice 2. Substitution (Representation) 3. Sacrifice of Christ In the technical sense, sacrifice designates the attitude of man before God. The significance is twofold. Sacrifice is the expression of man’s duty of total dedication to God, but it is only possible with regard to God. And again, sacrifice makes the special relationship of man to God visible in a way which excludes any one-sided humanization or secularization of the notion of God. While it is true that sacrific…

Part of Sacrifice: 1. Concept of Sacrifice 2. Substitution (Representation) 3. Sacrifice of Christ 1. That Christ redeemed us through a sacrifice is most explicitly attested in the NT in the Letter to the Hebrews. Here its cultic sense is characterized as an expiatory sacrifice, as also appears from the description of the life and death of Christ as obedience to the Father and from the fact that Christ gave his life for the sins of men. In the other parts of the NT the sacrifice of Christ appears in the sayin…

Part of Sacrifice: 1. Concept of Sacrifice 2. Substitution (Representation) 3. Sacrifice of Christ This notion derives in part from juris- prudence, where substitution (“proxy”) means acting in another’s stead. Reflection on this reality in human law shows that it has metaphysical implications which shed light on the primal religious value of the notion. Comparative religion shows that the idea of substitution is familiar not only at the (later) stage of magic (primitive totemism) but also in the sacrificial …

Part of Saints: 1. History of Saints 2. Veneration of Saints 3. Canonization 4. Hagiography 1. History of canonisation. The certainty that by dying For Christ the martyrs had entered into the glory of God, and the conviction of the power of their intercession now that they were united with Christ led the early Church to venerate the martyrs, to beg their intercession, and to commemorate them in the sacrifice of the Mass. For the same reasons, this cult was extended to “confessors” (those who had suffered for the …

Part of Saints: 1. History of Saints 2. Veneration of Saints 3. Canonization 4. Hagiography 1 . Definition and theological relevance. In general, hagiography is the story of the lives of the saints. In the stricter scientific sense it is the critical discussion of the hagiographical tradition, of the veneration and the history of the saints (see Saints I, II). The Church sees itself presented in the work of the saints. “Hagiography is a major realm of the Church’s self-presentation in literature” (B. Kötting in LTK, IV, col. 1316). Christ is seen there as he who lives on and con…

Part of Saints: 1. History of Saints 2. Veneration of Saints 3. Canonization 4. Hagiography 1. In the history of religions. Among those forms in which the holy can be present, man has a central place: men in general, men in special circumstances or situations (children, the dying), men in special offices and functions (priest, prophet, warrior, king), and finally any individual, the saint, in whom the divine power is experienced in some special way (especially through miracles). This presence of divine power seems …

Part of Saints: 1. History of Saints 2. Veneration of Saints 3. Canonization 4. Hagiography The veneration of the saints is an element of Church spirituality which can be shown to be present in the whole of tradition. At one time it dominated the liturgy and the practices of the faithful so strongly that it was regarded as a hall-mark of Catholic piety. 1. The magisterium of the Church expressly approved the practice at Trent, seeking both to explain itself to the Reformers and to eliminate abuses and excesses on the Catholic side. ( D 984–8). The doctrine of the Council is not given as …

Part of Salvation: 1. Universal Salvific Will 2. Biblical Concept 3. History of Salvation (“Salvation History”) 4. Theology 1 . The Hebrew expressions corresponding to the English word “salvation” show that the ОТ concept of salvation had its roots in concrete experiences and situations. Salva- tion for the psalmist is deliverance from mortal danger, healing in sickness, liberation from captivity, ransom from slavery, help in a law-suit, victory in battle, peace after political negotiations (Ps 7:11; 18:28; 22:22…

Part of Salvation: 1. Universal Salvific Will 2. Biblical Concept 3. History of Salvation (“Salvation History”) 4. Theology A. Theological Analysis 1. Biblical approach: The genesis of “history of salvation” as a scriptural concept. a) An exegetical investigation of the concept of “history of salvation” must examine the relationship of a purely political interpretation of events to a theological one, in the various biblical traditions. No event is “chemically pure”, but presents itself with various meanings. Since this is so, in…

Part of Salvation: 1. Universal Salvific Will 2. Biblical Concept 3. History of Salvation (“Salvation History”) 4. Theology A. Redemption 1. The fundamental problem, a) Redemption objectively presupposes a need of redemption and subjectively the admission (the acceptance) by man of his need. The startingpoint must therefore always be the question whether there is such a need of salvation, what constitutes it and how man can be brought to take an honest attitude to this fundamental fact of existence. (i) In the first place this need for deliverance signifies the condition i…

Part of Salvation: 1. Universal Salvific Will 2. Biblical Concept 3. History of Salvation (“Salvation History”) 4. Theology 1, Introduction. The Christian doctrine of God, his infinite goodness and holiness (D 1782f.) and that of the total origin of all other reality from God by creation imply the fundamental Christian conviction that in itself the whole of reality is (objectively) “good”, i.e., that it must be positively accepted as meaningful and worthy of love, in that fundamental act of our existence (in knowledge and lo…

1. The notion of scandal. a) Functional definition. The personal development of the individual, like the cultural evolution of groups, is affected both by endogenous impulses, like creative ideas and the force they generate, and by exegenous impact, such as example and scandal. So the development of spiritual existence and culture is hindered not only by innate incapacity or failure but also by faulty upbringing and education and by scandals. Scandal, then, plays an ambivalent psychological and social role which religion and morality must take into account. We speak of scandal whe…

1. Concept. The term “scepticism” in its classical sense comes from σϰέπτομαι, “to inspect”. One may distinguish between total (radical, absolute) scepticism and partial (moderate, relative) scepticism, the latter appearing as religious, ethical, aesthetic, etc., scepticism; there is also methodical scepticism or methodical doubt. 2. History. A partial scepticism appears in the West as early as the pre-Socratic philosophers (Xenophanes, Parmenides) and was built up to one of its first high-points by the Sophists, as a criticism of the naiv…

Part of Schism: 1. Concept of Schism 2. History of Schism 3. Eastern Schism 4. Western Schism The word “schism” means “a deliberate separation from ecclesiastical communion; it is also the state of being separated, or the Christian group which is in such a state. The schismatic is one who causes schism, who favours or bears responsibility for it, or who simply adheres to it through conviction or in fact” (Y. Congar). In classical Greek, σχίσμα means a crack or tear. St. Paul uses it in a moral sense for differences of opinion or of inclination which endanger the pea…

Part of Schism: 1. Concept of Schism 2. History of Schism 3. Eastern Schism 4. Western Schism Political events and policies did more to bring, about the Eastern Schism than the dogmatic differences to which it is often attributed. The roots of the process must be sought in the political ideology of the early Christian Church. The first political philosophers of Christianity, Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesaraea, adapted the political outlook of Hellenism, the only system then in existence, to the doct…

Part of Schism: 1. Concept of Schism 2. History of Schism 3. Eastern Schism 4. Western Schism 1. General. The NT speaks of divisions in the local Churches in consequence of differences in the explanation and assimilation of the apostolic kerygma (1 Cor 11:9; Gal 5:19; Rom 16:17). They endanger the fellowship ( koinonia) of the Church as established by Christ (one God,· one Lord, one Spirit, 1 Cor 12:4-6; one gospel, 1 Cor 1:10-13; Gal 1:6-9; one baptism and one bread, 1 Cor 12:13; 10:17; Gal 3:27). Nothing is known of a division which led to a bre…