| This thesis seeks to revolutionize thinking the sacrament, in particular the Eucharist. Instead of construing the Eucharist in terms of substance or symbol, the Eucharist is construed phenomenologically as manifestation-proclamation-attestation. In this way, the particular emphases of Catholic (manifestation), Jewish and Protestant (proclamation, attestation) thought converge around the question of the phenomenality of the religious phenomenon, specifically the Eucharist-phenomenon. Representative of each of these three faith traditions, the following prominent thinkers are placed in dialectical confrontation: Jean-Luc Marion (Catholic, manifestation), Paul Ricoeur (Protestant, proclamation/attestation) and Emmanuel Levinas (Jewish, proclamation/attestation). Building on the seminal work of Louis-Marie Chauvet, Symbole et sacrement: un relecture sacramentelle de l'existence chretienne (1987), this thesis adopts a concentrated phenomenological tenor in order to advance a critical hermeneutics of the sacrament. Further, the revisionist theological method of David Tracy is employed in order to conduct the processes of phenomenological description, followed by that of transcendental reflection, to assess the status of the truth-claims asserted by the Eucharist-phenomenon. |
