"Debating the Sacraments argues that Reformation debates concerning baptism and the Lord's Supper cannot be treated in isolation. It demonstrates the continuing influence of Erasmus on Luther's evangelical opponents and examines the role of printing in fanning the public controversy over the sacraments"--Provided by publisher.

Delves into the ancient debate regarding the nature and purpose of the seven sacraments What are the sacraments? For centuries, this question has elicited a lively discussion and among theologians, and a variety of answers that do anything but outline a unified belief concerning these fundamental ritual structures. In this extremely cohesive and well-crafted volume, a group of renowned scholars map the theologies of sacraments offered by key Christian figures from the Early Church through the twenty-first century. Together, they provide a guide to the variety of views about sacraments found throughout Christianity, showcasing the variety of approaches to understanding the sacraments across the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox faith traditions. Chapters explore the theologies of thinkers from Basil to Aquinas, Martin Luther to Gustavo Gutiérrez. Rather than attempting to distill their voices into a single view, the book addresses many of the questions that theologians have tackled over the two thousand year history of Christianity. In doing so, it paves the way for developing theologies of sacraments for present and future contexts. The text places each theology of the sacraments into its proper sociohistorical context, illuminating how the church has used the sacraments to define itself and its congregations over time. The definitive resource on theologies of the sacraments, this volume is a must-read for students, theologians, and spiritually interested readers alike.

This introduction to Martin Luther's sacramental theology addresses a central question in the life of the church and in ecumenical dialogue. Although Luther famously reduced the sacraments from seven to two (baptism and the Lord's Supper), he didn't completely dismiss the others. Instead, he positively recast them as practices in the church. This book explores the medieval church's understanding of the seven sacraments and the Protestant rationale for keeping or eliminating each sacrament. It also explores implications for contemporary theology and worship, helping Protestants imagine ways of reclaiming lost benefits of the seven sacraments.

Introducing readers to the contemporary field of sacramental theology, this volume covers the biblical and historical foundations, a survey of the state of the discipline, and a collection of constructive essays representing major themes, practices and approaches to sacraments and sacramentality in the contemporary world. The volume starts with a set of foundational essays that offer broad introduction to the field of sacramental theology from contemporary scholars, analysing a number of historical figures in order to illumine and inform contemporary sacramental theology. The second part of the volume is dedicated to a series of essays on sacramentality, and includes attention to elements of space, time, ritual action, music, and word, all as aspects of what Christians have termed “sacramental” reality. The third set of essays includes attention to each of the seven practices that have most commonly been termed “sacraments” in Christian traditions: baptism; eucharist/Lord's Supper; confirmation; confession, forgiveness and reconciliation; marriage; ordination; and anointing. The final part of this volume features scholars who are working on sacraments in conversation with contemporary academic disciplines: critical race theory, queer theory, comparative theology, and disability studies.

'Sacramentality' can serve as a category that helps to understand the performative power of religious and legal rituals. Through the analysis of 'sacraments', we can observe how law uses sacramentality to change reality through performative action, and how religion uses law to organise religious rituals, including sacraments. The study of sacramental action thus shows how law and religion intertwine to produce legal, spiritual, and other social effects. In this volume, Judith Hahn explores this interplay by interpreting the Catholic sacraments as examples of sacro-legal symbols that draw on the sacramental functioning of the law to provide both spiritual and legal goods to church members. By focusing on sacro-legal symbols from the perspective of sacramental theology, legal studies, ritual theory, symbol theory, and speech act theory, Hahn's study reveals how law and religion work hand in hand to shape our social reality.

For the Roman Catholic Church, the doctrine of transubstantiation was not merely based in Scripture and rooted in tradition and official church teaching; it was the keystone of the whole sacramental system through which the Church claimed spiritual authority as the mediator of salvation, and for ordinary believers, was the focal point of sincere, though often superstitious, devotion. For many Protestants, however, it was an absurdity contrary to both reason and sound theology, and obscured the central role of faith in receiving Christ and His benefits.One of the most significant Reformation-era texts on the Eucharist, The Oxford Treatise and Disputation on the Eucharist displays Peter Martyr Vermigli at the height of his powers. Recently arrived in England to teach at Oxford during the reforming reign of Edward VI, Vermigli used a university controversy over his eucharistic theology as an opportunity to take the offensive against transubstantiation, the strongest bulwark of Catholic traditionalism in Edwardian England. His Treatise offered a crisp and compelling statement of the Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist and objections to transubstantiation, while the Disputation locks horns with a series of Catholic disputants on the biblical, philosophical, and historical issues at stake. This volume is essential reading for any who wish to understand the contours of this crucial doctrinal controversy.