The Call of the Holy

This title provides an enquiry into the sacramental theology of Chauvet, Heidegger and Benedict XVI. Chauvet is the voice of contemporary Catholic sacramental theology. His ideas are assimilated by students of theology (particularly, the liturgy) throughout the French and English speaking world more or less without critical appraisal. This is because his major work Symbole et Sacrement is interdisciplinary, moving from a scholastic theological view of sacraments, through a philosophical enquiry both into Heidegger's thought and into theorists of language, to a consideration of anthropology and the monographs of ethnographers. Few readers of Chauvet are equipped with the inter-disciplinary resources to question his theological conclusions. The Call of the Holy revisits Chauvet's sources, with special emphasis on Heidegger's philosophical writings. It uncovers serious omissions in Chauvet's appropriation of Heidegger's thought. These omissions destabilise Chauvet's theological positions and have far-reaching implications, given the influence of Chauvet's thought, for contemporary Catholic sacramental theology.

T&T Clark Studies in Fundamental Liturgy offer leading scholarship from all disciplines related to liturgical study. The books in the series seek to reintegrate biblical, patristic, historical, dogmatic and philosophical questions with liturgical study in ways faithful and sympathetic to classical liturgical enquiry. Volumes in the series include monographs, translations of recent texts and edited collections around very specific themes. The series is edited by Susan Frank Parsons and Laurence Paul Hemming of the Society of St. Catherine of Siena.