An Introduction to Catholic Sacramental Theology

Ganoczy provides a complete overview of the history of Catholic sacramental theology and a clear explanation of contemporary theological developments. The "classical" teaching of the Council of Trent and its later theological formulations are compared to the new theological language of the Second Vatican Council and the "personalist" theologies of modern thinkers such as Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx. Introduction to Catholic Sacramental Theology moves clearly from (1) a sketch of the historical development of the sacramental concept, to (2) the basic elements in a general theory of the sacraments, to (3) discussion of the individual sacraments. In the last chapter, the author introduces his own expanded understanding of the sacraments. Using the concepts of modern communication theory, he envisions the sacraments as events of communication in the life of the concrete faith community in which each sacrament has its own particular form and purpose.