Our discussion in the last post got me thinking about the definition of sacraments we always talk about, that they are "outward visible signs of inward spiritual grace." I've been trying to track down exactly where that definition came from to little avail.
The closest sourcing I could find was the
Catholic Encyclopedia entry for sacraments, the "outward visible sign" definition is attributed to the catechism from the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and was derived from Augustine of Hippo's work
De Catechizandis Rudibus, "On how the unlearned should be catechized" (like the Catholic Encyclopedia,
available--in translation--on NewAdvent.org). How such a definition from Trent became a part of Anglican tradition is beyond me, so I'm reserving judgment as to whether this is actually the source of the definition. But, Augustine's tract is a fine place to start to get at what it means for sacraments to be "an outward and visible sign of inward, spiritual grace."
As it turns out,
De Catechizandis Rudibus is less about defining the doctrine a Christian must know than about how not to bore people when you are explaining the Christian faith to them (just as his
De Doctrina Christiana is less about defining the faith than how to preach it). A deacon from Carthage (where Augustine, BTW, started his career as a teacher of rhetoric) named Deogratias asked Augustine for advice on catechizing, because he was worried that he had been boring potential converts to tears. So, Augustine spends some time reassuring the deacon that it probably isn't him--that (as I have learned many times reading student evaluations after a quarter ends) you can never judge how your audience feels about a talk just from how they look or act during the talk itself. They may be outwardly yawning and trying hard to stay awake, but they could inwardly be absolutely fascinated and engaged.
His main bit of advice, though (and I think this is relevant to our discussion of the open table--I'll reflect on this in another post), is that catechizers need to adapt their explanation of Christianity to their audience. Someone from the country is going to need to hear something different than someone from the city, and someone with a lot of book learning is going to need something different who hasn't had schooling of any kind. Furthermore, one speaks much differently to a large group than to a single person.
Moreover, the catechizer needs to pay very careful attention to how his hearer is receiving the message--what questions he/she might have, what difficulties he/she might have with catholic doctrine, and generally how receptive she/he is to joining the community. This, he admits, is difficult, since it is impossible to judge a person's will merely by outward signs. In fact, it is inadvisable to make a hard and fast judgment, since we do not have access to someone's interior life. Nevertheless, we should be sensitive as best we can to where our hearers are coming from spiritually:
And inasmuch as, although the same charity is due to all, yet the same medicine is not to be administered to all, in like manner charity itself travails with some, is made weak together with others; is at pains to edify some, tremblingly apprehends being an offense to others; bends to some, lifts itself erect to others; is gentle to some, severe to others; to none an enemy, to all a mother (De Cat. Rud. 15.23) [Dear Lord, that's a clunky translation! But, I love that last bit.].
What is most important is that our explanation of Christianity gets at the heart of God's love for man in Christ. Everything else must be read through that love. This is something that Augustine always comes back to--we must "read" everything (the Bible, history, our lives) through the all-encompassing Love of God in Christ. The example he often gives (and he comes to it in
De Cat. Rud.) is the Israelites' flight from Egypt--the Israelites crossed the parted Red Sea, and when the Egyptians followed them, they were overwhelmed by the waves closing in. According to Augustine, Christians can see this text as about the saving grace of baptism--that by water we are cleansed of our sin and freed as children of God.
Whether the reading of this text was known by the original writer is not as relevant as how Christians are to interpret the text and make it work in their lives. So, he tells Deogratias, don't worry about covering absolutely everything--just give enough to help your listener understand the most important point: the redemption of humanity through the saving Love of God in Jesus Christ. He then gives an example of a speech he might give to a particular catechant, which details his approach to explaining Christianity to someone unfamiliar with the faith. He protests that this is the longest and most detailed a speech should be, and shouldn't be any longer. Again--the speech should be adapted to the audience.
Augustine mentions sacraments as "outward visible signs of inward grace" toward the end of the tract, when he explains how the catechizer should bring the listener into the community of the church through the sacrament (he's not explicit about whether this is Baptism or the Eucharist, but in any case, I think what he says applies to both):
On the subject of the sacrament, indeed, which he receives, it is first to be well impressed upon his notice that the signs of divine things are, it is true, things visible, but that the invisible things themselves are also honored in them, and that that species, which is then sanctified by the blessing, is therefore not to be regarded merely in the way in which it is regarded in any common use. And thereafter he ought to be told what is also signified by the form of words to which he has listened, and what in him is seasoned by that (spiritual grace) of which this material substance presents the emblem (De Cat. Rud. 26.50).
A couple of things to point out from this passage and from the tract at large that I will come back to when I relate all of this to the open table:
- First, Augustine defines sacraments as signs--and thus what he says about them relates to his theories about language and symbols.
- Second, Augustine distinguishes between outward and inward components of sacraments. Both are important, and are linked spiritually--but they are distinct.
- Thirdly, he relates these outward and inward components in a particular way and explains how this relationship should be articulated to a communicant.
- Fourthly, Augustine describes the role the sacrament plays in catechesis, which for him is necessarily flexible and social.
- Lastly, earlier in the tract Augustine warns against discerning too readily the inward intent of a listener's will.
I'm going to go back and read a few things before I make my argument about the open table, but in the meantime, let the above serve as what I hope is an accurate picture of Augustine's points in
De Catechizandis Rudibus. What I want to argue is that how we view the open table at St. Stephen's is not at all incompatible with Augustine's view of sacraments, and though it might not be traditionally "orthodox"
per se, it most certainly isn't heretical.
