Overview

As a multi-faceted introduction to sacramental theology, the purposes of this Handbook are threefold: historical, ecumenical, and missional. The forty-four chapters are organized into the following parts five parts: Sacramental Roots in Scripture, Patristic Sacramental Theology, Medieval Sacramental Theology, From the Reformation through Today, and Philosophical and Theological Issues in Sacramental Doctrine.Contributors to this Handbook explain the diverse ways that believers have construed the sacraments, both in inspired Scripture and in the history of the Church's practice. In Scripture and the early Church, Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics all find evidence that the first Christian communities celebrated and taught about the sacraments in a manner that Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics today affirm as the foundation of their own faith and practice. Thus, for those who want to understand what has been taught about the sacraments in Scripture and across the generations by the major thinkers of the various Christian traditions, this Handbook provides an introduction. As the divisions in Christian sacramental understanding and practice are certainly evident in this Handbook, it is not thereby without ecumenical and missional value. This book evidences that the story of the Christian sacraments is, despite divisions in interpretation and practice, one of tremendous hope.

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9780198816614

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Reviews

The two editors, one from an evangelical teaching post, the other from a Roman Catholic one, have brought together 50 authors from different spheres of study, different continents, and differing confessional standpoints. * Colin Buchanan * [T]here is much here that is fresh, and in the very best sense of the word provocative. . . . [T]he Handbook deserves to become a standard work of reference, and it is an unusually inspiring one. * Ann Wailes, OP, New Blackfriars * In light of this work's wide-ranging scope and breadth of content, it may be a misnomer to entitle it a Handbook a term that tends to imply concise reference to a specific topic, which the reader can access quickly and efficiently. Such a handbook this work definitely is not. It might have more aptly been entitled a 'compendium' or even 'encyclopedia' of sacramental theology. * Lee W. Gross, Antiphone: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal * This text will prove to be a standard resource for sacramental theologians, and perhaps the first place to turn for those who want to ask-even if for the first time-why and how Christians have always believed that God works in and through matter. * Jonathan Martin Ciraulo, Reading Religion * ...a good launch pad from which mature students of theology can grow in their understanding of the churchs reflection on sacramental theology * Ryan M. McGraw, PRJ * Theology is not intended to be only a conversation for specialists. If it is, as The Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology reveals, meant to help interpret, illuminate, and guide the church's life together. May preachers of every theological stripe embrace this way of thinking about how theology works in the church... * Theology Forum *

The two editors, one from an evangelical teaching post, the other from a Roman Catholic one, have brought together 50 authors from different spheres of study, different continents, and differing confessional standpoints. * Colin Buchanan * [T]here is much here that is fresh, and in the very best sense of the word provocative. . . . [T]he Handbook deserves to become a standard work of reference, and it is an unusually inspiring one. * Ann Wailes, OP, New Blackfriars * In light of this work's wide-ranging scope and breadth of content, it may be a misnomer to entitle it a Handbook a term that tends to imply concise reference to a specific topic, which the reader can access quickly and efficiently. Such a handbook this work definitely is not. It might have more aptly been entitled a 'compendium' or even 'encyclopedia' of sacramental theology. * Lee W. Gross, Antiphone: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal * This text will prove to be a standard resource for sacramental theologians, and perhaps the first place to turn for those who want to ask-even if for the first time-why and how Christians have always believed that God works in and through matter. * Jonathan Martin Ciraulo, Reading Religion *

Author Information

Hans Boersma (Ph.D. University of Utrecht) is the J. I. Packer Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. Before coming to Regent College in 2005, Boersma taught for six years at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. He also served several years as a Pastor. Boersma has written of a number of books, including Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa: An Anagogical Approach (Oxford University Press, 2013), Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry (Eerdmans, 2011), Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery (Oxford University Press, 2009), and Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition (Baker Academic, 2004). Matthew Levering is Perry Family Foundation Professor of Theology at Mundelein Seminary. He serves as co-editor of two theological quarterlies, Nova et Vetera and The International Journal of Systematic Theology. He is the author of Predestination (Oxford University Press, 2011), Biblical Natural Law (Oxford University Press, 2008), and Natural Law: A Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Trialogue (with David Novak and Anver Emon; Oxford University Press, 2014). He is also the co-editor of Vatican II: Renewal within Tradition (with Matthew L. Lamb; Oxford University Press, 2008).

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