Embodied Words, Spoken Signs

Sacramentality and the Word in Rahner and Chauvet

Rhodora E. Beaton

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781451469257
• eBook ISBN: 9781451472400
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

The twentieth century witnessed renewed interest in a Roman Catholic theology of the word. The contributions of Karl Rahner and sacramental theologian Louis-Marie Chauvet demonstrate the Roman Catholic conviction that the word is fundamentally sacramental: it has the capacity to bear God's presence to humanity. Rhodora Beaton examines the work of Rahner and Chauvet to articulate the relationship between word and sacrament within the context of language, culture, and an already graced world as the place of divine self-expression, and analyzes the implications for Trinitarian theology, sacramentality, liturgy, and action.

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Reformation Theologies of the Word

Martin Luther and John Calvin

Roman Catholic theologians seeking a more adequate theology of the word can profitably turn to the work of Reformation theologians Martin Luther and John Calvin. Each influenced by the work of Augustine, Luther and Calvin are interested in the ways in which language, particularly scriptural and sacramental language, mediates the relationship between God and humanity. Each narrows his focus within the sacraments to the sacramental word, the efficacious word of God that, when accepted in faith, is transformative for human beings. This same word is the word found in the texts of the scriptures and proclaimed in the preaching of the Church. Cognizant of the sinfulness of humanity, Luther and Calvin recognize the significance of embodiment, but also emphasize the impact of sin and the subsequent distance that exists between God and humanity. They wrestle with the ways in which God graciously overcomes this distance in order to make the offer of salvation heard in the world.

Martin Luther and John Calvin approached the reformation of the Christian church in different ways. In the earliest years of the Reformation, Martin Luther sought to free the word of God from inadequate preaching and an excessive emphasis on doctrine to the detriment of the proclaimed word of the scriptures. Unable to turn his back completely on the Roman Catholic tradition in which he was trained, Luther maintained a strong attachment to the sacraments and their elements. Using scripture as his guide he rejected those sacraments which he did not find there. He emphasized the power of God’s verbal promise, drawing on the work of Augustine.

John Calvin, a somewhat later Reformer, shared Luther’s interest in the work of Augustine and built on the theology of the word which emerged from Luther’s attention to biblical proclamation. Calvin’s work seeks to avoid the debates over literal biblical interpretation by developing a theology of the word which both accounts for human sinfulness and error, and emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit mediating the grace of God through word and sacrament in history. Building on the work of Luther, Calvin crafts a theology of the word that appreciates the sacramental mediation of scripture and ritual as gratuitous gifts of God, offered to humanity through the Spirit, in order to effect what would otherwise be an impossible union between humanity and God.

In this chapter we will examine the sacramental minimalism that characterizes the work of Luther and Calvin, and highlights the significance of the word of God in the scriptures, the sacramental rituals, the liturgy, and in everyday life. In the work of Luther and Calvin we find an understanding of the embodied word of God which does what it signifies and is not disconnected from images and sacramental actions. This is a sacramental word, found in the scriptures, and read and proclaimed in the sacraments and in human experience. In seeking to shed new light on its significance, Luther and Calvin highlight the importance of the relationship between sacrament and scripture, the graciousness of God who offers salvation to humanity through the word in a variety of contexts, and a sense of the importance of the embodiment of the word in history. This work, grounded in the scriptural word, continues to offer insights about the efficacy of the word of God, found as it is, not only in the sacraments, but in the various circumstances of human life.

Martin Luther’s Theology of the Word

In contrast to Aquinas, who expressed his theology primarily in the orderly genre of the scholastic treatise, Luther’s writings occur in the more haphazard context of parish life interspersed with periods of political exile. Often writing for publication in popular pamphlets rather than explicitly for scholars, Luther addresses the issues of his day in order of immediate importance. Primary among the issues he considers is a question regarding the significance of the word of God in the life of a Christian. Is God’s word mediated primarily through the structures, sacraments, and traditions, of the Roman Church, or is it mediated by the words of the scriptures? Luther is best known for his focus on the scriptural word of God, yet he also emphasized God’s word of promise offered in the sacraments. His shift in perspective from the more philosophically oriented scholastic view that preceded his work has the effect of shining a bright light on the ways in which biblical translation, interpretation, and proclamation affect the ways in which the word of God is received by humanity in history.

In this section we will highlight the ways in which Luther’s approach illuminates the word of God as christological, scriptural, and sacramental. We will begin by examining the christological foundations of Luther’s theology. We will then turn our attention to Luther’s careful reflection on the word present in the scriptures. The personal meaning and transmission of this word through translation, exegesis, preaching, and hymnody are of central importance to Luther. As we examine Luther’s theology of the word according to these categories, we will find that images and symbols play a central role in efficacious encounters with God, which Luther believes are facilitated by the proclaimed word. Finally we will turn to the sacramental word of promise which Luther considers in the context of the scriptures.

Logos Christology as Foundation

Luther’s Christology is at the heart of his emerging theology of the word. Although Luther focuses on the scriptures as a source for revelation, his faith is not primarily in the text itself, but in Christ as the source, topic, and subject of the revealed text.^[1] Due to Luther’s understanding of the human person as predominantly sinful, his Christology emphasizes the “otherness” of Christ in relationship to humanity. Christ is nevertheless the essential and salvific link between God and human beings. It is Luther’s Logos Christology that is foundational for his understanding of the word of God spoken in the scriptures and in the sacraments. It is Christ’s presence, as it is understood in word and sacrament, that sets these experiences apart from other experiences of God, and which also binds them together in a kind of similarity. In this section we will examine the incarnational Logos Christology that grounds Luther’s theology of the word as expressed in both word and sacrament.

Luther’s theological anthropology tends to emphasize the sinfulness of humanity rather than the recognition of humanity as graced.^[2] Luther’s fairly pessimistic view of the human person as sinful leads him to a Christology that emphasizes the divinity of Christ over the humanity. As Regin Prenter puts it, “the Word is the only form in which Christ can be present as alien righteousness and as the object of a faith that cannot see.”^[3] Although he by no means denies the humanity of Christ, and in fact assails those who do so, the soteriological focus for Luther is on the divinity of Christ. “For what would Christ’s suffering and death avail me if Christ were merely a human being like you and me?”^[4] In order for salvation to be effected, the one who saves must be distinctly different from the rest of sinful humanity.

Christ is fully human for Luther, yet the accent falls on the more than human. He insists, in arguments with other Reformers, such as Ulrich Zwingli, that God is by no means so entirely transcendent as to be inaccessible via material bodies.^[5] Maintaining this sense of accessibility, Luther also hearkens back to Anselm to argue that Christ, much more than a human role model, is necessarily capable of actions, on behalf of humanity, that are impossible for other human beings. He writes: “If I believe that only the human nature suffered for me, then Christ would be a poor Savior for me, in fact he himself would need a Savior.”^[6] Upholding the Chalcedonian formula, Luther both argues that it is possible for human beings to have access to God, and also insists that the divinity of Christ is soteriologically necessary.

Luther’s Christology reflects his awareness of sin and his confidence in God’s desire for human salvation. This salvation is effected by the Logos, the Word of God, who assumes humanity in order to offer salvation. Luther emphasizes that the Christian belief in the Word of God, that “the Word existed, that this Word was with God, that God was with this Word, and that this Word had existed from all eternity . . . is a peculiar doctrine; it is foreign and strange to reason.”^[7] It can be accepted only through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, which makes it possible to accept the doctrine of the scriptures over human reason. With regard to mysteries such as the incarnation and the Eucharist, the believer must si...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• A Foundation for the Sacramentality of the Word
• Reformation Theologies of the Word
• Karl Rahner’s Contributions to a Roman Catholic Theology of the Word
• Louis-Marie Chauvet’s Contributions to a Roman Catholic Theology of the Word
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index