The Problem With Sacraments

The problem with sacramental theology is that it’s sacramental theology.

That is, the problem is the abstraction of certain events, acts, objects, things from their surroundings and subjected to detailed scrutiny.

To do sacramental theology, you have to isolate bread and wine from the sequence of liturgical actions that surround it. To do sacramental theology, you have to isolate the rites of the church from the church whose rites they are. To do sacramental theology, you have to isolate the rites of the church from the rituals and signs that express and form other communities and cultures. To do sacramental theology, you have to isolate these supernatural events from the natural run of things.

Without this abstraction and isolation, one couldn’t assume that your “view of the Lord’s Supper” is reducible to your view of the relation between bread and Jesus’ body. Without this abstraction, there wouldn’t be any temptation to regard the sacraments as quasi-magical. Without this abstraction, the deep connections between sacraments and evangelism, sacraments and mission, would be blindingly obvious, not opaque.

The problem with sacramental theology is that it’s not the theology of creation, and from ecclesiology, and from culture.

The problem with sacramental theology is that it’s sacramental theology.