Liturgy as Revelation

Re-Sourcing a Theme in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology

A critical issue in modern Catholic theology has been the relationship between the doctrine of revelation and the church’s liturgical and sacramental practice. This volume argues that although in the twentieth century Catholic theology increasingly recognized the centrality of Christology—particularly the person of Christ—as the locus of revelation and drew out the crucial implications of Christ as the revelation of God, it was slow to connect this revelatory dynamic with the encounter that occurs within the sacramental space of the liturgy, most notably the Eucharist. Taking the decline of the neoscholastic enterprise in Catholic theology and the challenges posed by modernism as his point of departure, Philip Caldwell traces the evolution of the Catholic theology of revelation in the twentieth century and the vital role played by the liturgical and sacramental renewal movements in reimagining this pivotal theological category. Examining the specific contributions of René Latourelle, Avery Dulles, Salvatore Marsilli, and Gustave Martelet against a background of pre-conciliar ressourcement theology, this volume provides a comprehensive account of why a Trinitarian and Christological construal of liturgy and sacraments as revelation is key to the vision that informed Vatican II and offers constructive theological and ecclesial possibilities for the future.