Contents
Foreword - Gordon W. Lathrop
Introduction - Steffen Lösel
Chapter One: Disseminated and Condensed Sacramentality
Chapter Two: What Is a Sacrament? What Is Sacramentality?
Chapter Three: The Uncertain Place of Materiality in the Reformed
Tradition
Chapter Four: The Embodied Word: In Search of a Reformed
Sacramentality
Chapter Five: Faith’s Materiality, and Some Implications for
Worship and Theology
Chapter Six: The Last Interview
Bibliography
Index
Steffen Lösel is associate professor of systematic theology at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He received his master of divinity from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and his doctorate in theology from the University of Tübingen. His book, Kreuzwege: Ein ökumenisches Gespräch mit Hans Urs von Balthasar, appeared in 2001 with Ferdinand Schöningh.
"This `final word' from Australian liturgical theologian Graham
Hughes is a distinctive and rich contribution to contemporary
discussions about sacramentality. Hughes challenges the ways in
which a Reformed disseminated sacramentality—where awareness of God
and the sacred are located in everyday experience—has shaped the
sacramental understanding of many Protestant churches and placed
them in danger of `secular colonization by modernity.' He takes on
what he calls the `uncertain place' of materiality in the Reformed
tradition, arguing that material physical forms—sacramental
things—have a necessary place in the church's life and practice. In
doing so, he ably demonstrates the need to balance disseminated
sacramentality with a `condensed' sacramentality, through which our
awareness of the sacred is found in specific trusted material
actions, our physicality is acknowledged and engaged in Christian
worship, and our encounter with God is given physical form. Readers
new to Hughes will also find Steffen Lösel's introductory essay a
helpful and clear survey of Hughes's work and thought, placing this
book in context with Hughes's major contribution, Worship as
Meaning."E. Byron Anderson, Styberg Professor of Worship,
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL
"The fruit of a lifetime of prayer and study, driven by a
pedagogical desire to help his students resist the corrosive
effects of modernity. Hughes well knows that we won't think our way
into freedom from an overly cognitive spirituality without robust
liturgical practices which transcend (and even upend) entrenched
cognitive habits."
Worship Journal
"This volume reintroduces Hughes's critical and constructive
achievement in his book Worship and Meaning and extends
it by presenting his argument for a distinctively Reformed
sacramentality. A welcome addition to Reformed and ecumenical
reflection!"Amy Plantinga Pauw, Henry P. Mobley, Jr., Professor of
Doctrinal Theology, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
"I highly recommend this book, especially to those who are confused
about what is happening in Christian sacramental theology today.
Hughes's contribution, first in Worship as Meaning and now in
Reformed Sacramentality, helps us to rethink how meaning is
transacted in worship and sacrament today. Hughes opens up a new
way of talking about the sacraments."
Calvin Theological Journal
"This posthumous study is a long-awaited consideration of an issue
which concerns all thoughtful practitioners in the Reformed
Tradition: it explores the origins of Reform's bifurcation of
spirit and form, its long favouring of the cognitive over the
physical (and indeed the affective) mode, of speech over symbol in
sermon and sacrament. Hughes constantly reaches out to other
Christian traditions as he delineates a new Reformed canonicity. It
is especially pertinent to his own church, the Uniting Church in
Australia (Reformed/Methodist), for a reclamation of the
materiality of faith itself, and therefore of both word and
sacrament, is a key to the recovery of rich and enduring forms of
worship."The Rev. Dr Robert Gribben, Professor Emeritus of Worship
and Mission, Uniting Church Faculty of Theology, Melbourne,
Australia
"Reformed Sacramentality is a splendid resource that opens up fresh
ways for theologians and clergy to understand sacramentality. Its
richest offering is help for thinking about the relationship
between holy things and ordinary things: that is, divine presence
in rites and sacraments, and divine presence everywhere and at all
times. This book is a superlative scholar's final gift to our own
reflections on sacraments, whether located in the Reformed
tradition or not."
Anglican Theological Review
"No one thought more clearly or creatively about the place of
worship in a postmodern environment than did Graham Hughes. Firmly
grounded in the Reformed theological tradition, Hughes nonetheless
vigorously engaged a wide range of ecumenical and philosophical
thought. Now, through the generous work of William Emilsen and
Steffen Lösel, we gratefully have the much-anticipated book Hughes
was working on when he died. Reformed Sacramentality is
highly original, profoundly theological, and richly practical.
Hughes manages to remain true to the Reformed sacramental
tradition, while at the same time pointing in breathtaking new
directions."Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor Emeritus of Preaching,
Candler School of Theology, Emory University
"The Reformed tradition is in need of sacramental reform! This
timely work comes to light in an era in which brain research makes
clear that human knowing arises from sensory engagement with the
material and social environment. This bold and provocative work by
Hughes calls for a fundamental reconsideration of the role of
embodiment in Reformed approaches to baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Taking cues from a robust Christology that highlights Christ as the
icon of God, Hughes provides a fresh way of thinking about the
fusion of materiality and the sacred in the sacraments. Lösel's
introductory essay provides illumination and context for the
thought-provoking challenges offered here."Rev. Dr. Gordon S.
Mikoski, Princeton Theological Seminary
"An important work that deserves a careful reading by pastors,
church leaders, and seminarians."Interpretation
"This very important posthumous work lays out a major part of the
research and career path of an outstanding liturgical scholar in
the Reformed tradition dealing with the ever elusive issues within
that tradition. This is a "must read" for anyone reflecting on the
ever burgeoning field of making sense of "sacramentality" in a post
modern world."
Ecclesia Orans
"This book is a collection of disparate thoughts and writings
collected together as the first attempt to initiate a conversation
on the place of sacramentalism within the Reformed tradition of the
Catholic faith. The book puts before us a strong thesis about the
neglect of sacramentalism in Reformed worship and might well catch
the eye of both church theologians and congregants as part of a
wider conversation about the key elements that might be missing
from our church life and witness in our Western post/modern and now
nonhuman cultural movement."Anaphora
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