Aims

The first objective is to study the sacraments of Christian initiation (entrance in the covenant): baptism, confirmation, Eucharist. The second objective is to account for those basic sacraments which "make" the Christian and build the Church.

Main themes

(a) Positive part: This part examines the biblical record and the Christian tradition up through the rituals of Vatican II and the ecumenical agreements. For baptism and confirmation, Book IV of the Code will examined (cf. RELI 2182).
(b) Systematic part: This part includes baptism, entering the Church, trinitarian communion and the sacrament of faith; confirmation and its specific contribution;, and the Eucharist, including the Eucharist and the Church, the Eucharist and presence, the Eucharist and sacrifice and the Eucharist and ethics.

Content and teaching methods

According to the oldest and most permanent thought of the Church, the sacraments offer to Christians a real participation to the life of God. Given by Jesus-Christ, they are celebrated by the Church, so that this life of God may be communicated, confessed, and concretely practiced by the Christians. Two dimensions are therefore to be studied: the gift of God in Christ and its liturgical celebration. Each sacrament has an history full of theological and practical incident and debate, that will be presented in the lectures including the contemporary researches in the new context of secularization.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

without object