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Document Details : Title: De sacramentologie van Alexander Schmemann Subtitle: Een kritische beschouwing Author(s): KADAVIL, Mathai Journal: Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Volume: 52 Issue: 1-2 Date: 2000 Pages: 5-27 DOI: 10.2143/JECS.52.1.565612 Abstract : Schmemann’s search for the meaning of sacramental symbolism in the early Christian tradition has contributed quite a lot in shaping the sacramentology in recent years. Its impact is not confined to the Orthodox traditions, but also influenced the Catholic and Protestant theologians of the West. His emphasis on the interrelation of liturgy and sacraments is of particular importance. For him liturgy is not something that needs to be addressed like any other speculative science, rather it is something that happens to us. Through the act of worship, we are participating in the mysterion. In this way he focussed on the inner side of liturgy. Though contemporary studies in liturgy and sacramentology have taken new turns by studying the liturgical performance from sociological, cultural and anthropological perspectives, the liturgical participation emphasized by Schmemann remains. His study on the eschatological symbolism of the early Christian tradition is another important contribution. In his vision of sacramentology, we are not merely recollecting the events of the past. Rather, we participate in the eschatonthrough the worship of the ecclesia. It offers the unitive view of the Church, world and the Kingdom. It becomes relevant in the context of the widening view of sacred and profane. Schmemann’s sacramentology offers a better scope for the study of fundamental theology and for looking at the world more positively. |
