Thinking about Faith: Speculative Theology

380 Pages·2006·1.522 MB·English

by  Tibor Horvath

Recto Running Head
thinking about faith
speculative theology
volume one: love
ii Verso Running Head
Thinking about Faith
Speculative Theology
Volume One: Love
Volume Two: Faith
Volume Three: Hope
Recto Running Head
Thinking about Faith
Speculative Theology
Volume One: Love
TIBOR HORVATH SJ
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston · London · Ithaca
iv Verso Running Head
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2006
isbn13: 978-0-7735-3058-4 isbn10: 0-7735-3058-4
Legal deposit second quarter 2006
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to
Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sci-
ences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada
Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the
financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Pub-
lishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activi-
ties.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Horváth, Tibor, 1927July28–
Thinking about faith : speculative theology / Tibor Horvath.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: v. 1. Love.
isbn-13: 978-0-7735-3058-4(v.1) isbn-10: 0-7735-3058-4(v.1)
1. Sacraments – Catholic Church. 2. Love – Religious aspects – Catholic
Church. 3. Faith. 4. Catholic Church – Doctrines. I. Title.
bx1751.3.h67 2006 264′.02 c2005–906942–2
Typeset in 10/12Baskerville by True to Type
Recto Running Head
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Overture 3
1.1 Thinking 3
1.2 Language 4
1.3 Love 6
1.4 Speculative Theology 8
1.5 A Test Case for an Ecumenical Presentation of a Church 10
2 What Is the Origin of the Christian Faith? 13
2.1 Introduction 13
2.2 Johannine Theology 16
2.3 The World of the Synoptic Gospels 17
2.4 Pauline Tradition 21
2.5 Pre-Pauline Tradition 23
2.5.1 1Corinthians8,5–6 23
2.5.2 Philippians2,6–11 24
2.5.3 Colossians1,15–20 25
2.5.4 Hebrews1,2b–4 25
2.5.5 1Timothy3,16 26
2.6 Summing Up 26
3 What Is the Raison d’Être of the Ecumenical Councils? 29
3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Two Primary Councils: Nicaea I and Constantinople I 30
vi Contents
3.3 Four Consequential Councils: Ephesus, Chalcedon, and
Constantinople II and III 32
3.4 The Last Two Councils of the First Millenium: Nicaea II
and Constantinople IV 35
3.5 The Thirteen Councils of the Second Millenium 36
3.6 Ecumenism: “Orthodox” and “Unorthodox” Love for
Christ 45
4 What Is the Raison d’Être of the Sacraments? 47
4.1 What Is the Sacrament of the Eucharist? 49
4.1.1 The Eucharist: The Historical Foundation of Sacramental
Theology 49
4.1.2 The Eucharist Is the Eucharistic Christ 93
4.1.3 The Eucharist: The Systematic Foundation of Sacramental Theol-
ogy 93
4.1.4 The Eucharist and Systematic Theology 107
4.2 What Is the Sacrament of Marriage? 129
4.2.1 The Pre-eminence of the Sacrament of Marriage 129
4.2.2 The Human Mystery of the Sacrament of Marriage 130
4.2.3 The Christian Reality of the Sacrament of Marriage 158
4.2.4 The Sacrament of Marriage and Sacramental Theology 167
4.2.5 The Sacrament of Marriage and Systematic Theology 172
4.3 What Is the Sacrament of Order? 179
4.3.1 Introduction 179
4.3.2 The General Notion of the Priesthood 180
4.3.3 The Radical Originality of the Christian Priesthood 182
4.3.4 What the Sacrament of Order Is 212
4.3.5 The Sacrament of Order and Sacramental Theology 217
4.3.6 The Sacrament of Order and Systematic Theology 240
4.4 What Is the Sacrament of Forgiveness? 245
4.4.1 Introduction 245
4.4.2 Ways of Forgiving 246
4.4.3 The Sacramental Reality of Forgiveness 250
4.4.4 The Sacrament of Forgiveness in the History of the
Church 254
4.4.5 What the Sacrament of Forgiveness Is 269
4.4.6 The Sacrament of Forgiveness and Sacramental
Theology 271
4.4.7 The Sacrament of Forgiveness and Systematic
Theology 275
Contents vii
4.5 What Is the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick? 283
4.5.1 Sickness and Health 283
4.5.2 The Sick and the Sacrament of the Sick in the History of
the Church 285
4.5.3 The Sacramental Reality of the Sacrament of the Anointing
of the Sick 287
4.5.4 What the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick Is 289
4.5.5 The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and
Sacramental Theology 292
4.5.6 The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and Systematic
Theology 296
4.6 What Is the Sacrament of Baptism? 303
4.6.1 Introduction 303
4.6.2 Baptismal Symbolism 303
4.6.3 The Sacrament of Baptism in the History of the
Church 308
4.6.4 What the Sacrament of Baptism Is 312
4.6.5 The Sacrament of Baptism and Sacramental Theology 313
4.6.6 The Sacrament of Baptism and Systematic Theology 317
4.7 What Is the Sacrament of Confirmation? 325
4.7.1 The Sacrament of the Fullness of Grace 325
4.7.2 The Sacrament of Confirmation in the History of
the Church 325
4.7.3 What the Sacrament of Confirmation Is 328
4.7.4 The Sacrament of Confirmation and Sacramental
Theology 329
4.7.5 The Sacrament of Confirmation and Systematic
Theology 334
5 Finale and Overture 341
Appendix Sacramental Theology’s Contribution to
Systematic Theology: A Summary 343
References 347
Index 365
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Preface ix
Preface
Thinking about Faithis a kind of Summa, generally a comprehensive work by
a scholastic theologian-philosopher. The first volume is under the heading
Love. It is expected to be followed by a second under the heading Faith.
The third volume, on Eschatology, Hope, has been already published in
1993 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press as Eternity and Eternal Life: Specu-
lative Theology and Science in Discourse.
Following the classic Summa, each chapter begins with a question “What
is?” or “Is it?” in order to encourage the reader to begin to think along
with the writer. The answer, given in the context of a recent problematic,
is analyzed in terms of its eventual contribution to sacramental theology
and to general systematic theology. Since we take a question as our point
of departure, we find that question points to language and language to
love as the ur-intentionality of being. Speculative theology is an effort to
unify theology according to the various acts of human life, such as faith,
hope, prudence, temperance, knowing, feeling, and willing, and we
define our speculative theology as an effort to unify theology in the reality
of love. The love that the early Christians had for Jesus Christ and was the
origin of their faith, it will be argued, is a problem-solving and question-
raising paradigm in the pre-gospel, pre-Pauline theologies, in the twenty-
one Ecumenical Councils, and in the sacraments in their symbolic rela-
tion to their historical and systematic foundation, the Eucharist, symbol
of love transcendental.
The work is a modest invitation to scholars to attempt in their own field
a systematic presentation of a denominational, philosophical, or scientific
system under the headings of Love, Faith, and Hope, our unifying triad in
the present and common aspiration for the future.