Deepening the Christian identity celebrated in worship-- "Tim Sedgwick's Sacramental Ethics was a groundbreaking book that awaked us to the significance of religious practices for the moral like. We are, therefore, indebted to Augsburg Fortress for their willingness to make this work available for a new generation who has much to learn from this book." Stanley Hauerwas Duke Divinity School "This remarkable little book remains a classic, a wise and concrete reflection on the life of faith as a real way of life, grounded in the communal encounter with the grace of God in public worship. Look here to see again what word and sacrament have to do with daily life. Read here to think again how the paschal movement of Christ from death to life can pull us along, converting us to the care and embrace of the world." Gordon W. Lathrop Charles A. Schieren Professor of Liturgy Emeritus Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia "Timothy Sedgwick is the most imaginative and provocative moralist now writing in the American Anglican tradition. He's grounded and always has a fresh take on things. If Christian ethics in the United States is finally learning something about the importance of ritual and worship we largely have Tim to thank." David H. Smith Director, Yale Interdisciplinary Bioethics Center "Sacramental Ethics sets Christian understanding and behavior where it belongs, in the Passover of Christ and of those whose faith lies in him from death to life." Aidan Kavanagh, O.S.B. Timothy F. Sedgwick is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Vice President, and the Clinton S. Quin Professor of Christian Ethics at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.

The increasing awareness of environmental issues as ultimately moral issues has led to the intersection of religion and environment. Sacramental Commons presents a unique way of looking at this topic by relating the Christian word 'sacrament' (signs of divine presence) to the term 'commons' (shared place and shared goods, among people and between people and the natural world), suggesting that local natural settings and local communities can be a source for respect and compassion. Sacramental Commons uses Earth-oriented biblical teachings, and ideas from such thinkers as Hildegard, St. Francis, John Muir, and Black Elk, to provide insights about divine immanence in creation, human commitments to creation, and human accountability to the Spirit, Earth, and biotic community. It extends the concept of 'natural rights' beyond humans to include all nature, and affirms intrinsic value in ecosystems in whole and in part. Sacramental Commons declares that the Earth commons and its goods should be shared equitably by human communities and individuals living in interdependent relationships with other members of the community of life. It suggests essential values that will stimulate care for the commons, and embodies them in principles of an innovative Christian Ecological Ethics.

Although scholars have widely acknowledged the prevalence of religious reference in the work of Cormac McCarthy, this is the first book on the most pervasive religious trope in all his works: the image of sacrament, and in particular, of eucharist. Informed by postmodern theories of narrative and Christian theologies of sacrament, Matthew Potts reads the major novels of Cormac McCarthy in a new and insightful way, arguing that their dark moral significance coheres with the Christian theological tradition in difficult, demanding ways. Potts develops this account through an argument that integrates McCarthy's fiction with both postmodern theory and contemporary fundamental and sacramental theology. In McCarthy's novels, the human self is always dispossessed of itself, given over to harm, fate, and narrative. But this fundamental dispossession, this vulnerability to violence and signs, is also one uniquely expressed in and articulated by the Christian sacramental tradition. By reading McCarthy and this theology alongside postmodern accounts of action, identity, subjectivity, and narration, Potts demonstrates how McCarthy exploits Christian theology in order to locate the value of human acts and relations in a way that mimics the dispossessing movement of sacramental signs. This is not to claim McCarthy for theology, necessarily, but it is to assert that McCarthy generates his account of what human goodness might look like in the wake of metaphysical collapse through the explicit use of Christian theology.

What motivates practice of the liturgy and sacramental rites of the church? Does the worship of God begin and end within each ritual enactment, or does the truth and value of sacramental celebration reside in the broader context of Christian life in church and society? For more than two decades, prominent Jesuit sacramental-liturgical theologian Bruce Morrill has explored the promise and problems inherent in the Second Vatican Council's call to renew liturgy's basic purpose--namely, the glorification of God and the sanctification of people. Morrill's fundamental argument is that this ancient Christian principle is of a piece, that divine glory and human holiness are, so to speak, two sides of a single coin. The value of liturgy and sacraments is depleted, if not lost, unless they function within a holistic practice of faith that seeks the upbuilding of ethical lives, personal and social. With numerous real-life examples plus references to current sociological studies, the chapters address both modern challenges to and biblical and traditional resources for the celebration of sacramental rites today.

Over the last fifty years Western Christianity has been criticized as a cause and enabler of Earth’s ecological crisis. It has been said that Christianity promotes a spiritual-material dualism where the material side of life has little sacred value. Also noted in the critique is the hesitancy of many Christians to embrace modern scientific understandings of creation, especially evolution. Some Christian writers have responded by accepting modern cosmology and evolution, and advocating for a “sacramental” creation spirituality, oftentimes supported by fresh readings of earlier Christian writings. In Whole-Earth Ethics for Holy Ground, Dr. Stephen Hastings begins by offering a genre defining overview of late 20th century and early 21st century writings that he calls “sacramental” creation spirituality. These writings are characterized by their acceptance of the scientific creation story of cosmogenesis and evolution, and their recovery of authentic Christian nature mysticism. Hastings then looks at Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955 CE), Maximus the Confessor (c.580–662 CE), and Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464 CE). Together the teachings of Maximus and Nicholas support Teilhard’s call for a theology of a Creator God robust enough to encompass the most expansive and complicated propositions about creation made by science, while remaining as close as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The integrated teachings of these three figures suggest the consecration of creation as its condition of being, meaning that God is present in all things. This consecration or presence inspires sacramental experiences that are revelations of God in and through creation. These complement the sacramental experience of Christ in the Eucharist. Together these sacramental encounters converge to support the conclusion that just as one receives and responds to Christ present in the elements of the communion table, so one ought to receive and respond to oneself, one’s neighbors, and all creation as the universal consecrated and sacramental neighborhood. This is a whole-Earth sacramental ethic that is what we need today, centered on all life and ecosystems.

"Reconceives the moral significance of Cormac McCarthy's novels through a constructive engagement with postmodern theory and Christian theology"--