theo 106 / cath 106 - theology of the sacraments
Spring 2009
Instructor: TBA
Meeting days: TBA
Meeting times: TBA
Course Description:
Sacraments are more than just mechanical ways in which to experience God in Christian liturgy—what has been traditionally defined as “a visible sign of an invisible reality.” Indeed, the seven sacraments of the Catholic tradition are only privileged theological/liturgical expressions of a way of thinking, feeling, and interpreting reality. If a sacrament mediates God’s presence in the Christian community, then such mediation assumes that anything in the finite particular world around us can be a possible vehicle to experience God. This course will examine what can be called a “sacramental imagination” as a way to get at the theological assumptions that are such a large part of the Catholic spiritual tradition. Through the used of film, literary essays, short stories, and theological texts, we will first explore what it means to think and feel “sacramentally” and then focus on the nature of the sacramental system in Catholic worship