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Lecture 13 Language and Sacraments

Explore the relation between language, sacraments, and philosophical theories of Augustine and Wittgenstein. Discover how language reflects reality and the inner self, and its role in interpreting Scripture and theological concepts.

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Lecture 13 Language and Sacraments

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  1. Lecture 13 Language and Sacraments Dr. Ann T. Orlando 11 December 2008

  2. Background • Back to where we started the semester • Interpretation and Language • How language it is learned • Relation between language and reality • Inner language • Relation between language and sacraments

  3. Augustine’s Works Focus On Language • De Doctrina Christiana • Theory of signs • Interpretation of Scripture • De Magistro • Discussion between Augustine and Adeodatus on how we learn • But also • Confessions • De Trinitate • City of God • Sermons • Lost work: De Grammatica

  4. Augustine’s Theory of Signs • A thing (res) is an external reality • Sign (signum) is something sensed which shows the mindsomething else • Natural signs, e.g. smoke indicating fire • Conventional or given (data) signs • Words (verbum) are a type (but not the only type) of given signs • De Doctrina Christiana

  5. Augustine’s Theory of Language • Human communication of reality is by the signs of words • Inherent ambiguity of how to use words • Denotation vs connotation • Language is not unique • Multiple languages not only with different words but with different structures • Same sounding word can mean different things in different languages (e.g., lege)

  6. Relation Between Language and Thought • What is to be said is in the heart, the inner man • Only when it is to be communicated is the choice of specific language made • “Matching the differences in your audience you employ different languages in order to produce the word you have conceived; but what you have conceived in your heart was confined to no language.” (Tractates on John 3.14.7) • We learn language as a child by learning to associate words with thoughts, feelings and things

  7. The Unambiguous Word: Jesus Christ • The Word is the perfect eternal Truth (no ambiguity) • Word became flesh to cure our corrupt souls • Perfect Word becomes perfect man • Mediator of grace to us • Confessions VII, Epistles and Tractates on John

  8. Augustine and Sacraments • Sacraments are a movement from visible to invisible, from ordinary experience to spiritual reality • Sacraments as visible divine word • Sacrament both sign and reality of the mystery (spiritual reality) of Christ • Scripture as a sacrament • Interpretation of Scripture as a Sacrament • Creed and Lord’s Prayer as Sacraments • Triduum • Church is the authority that mediates sacraments (including Scripture) • Baptism • Eucharist: theory of sacrifice CoG X.4-6 • Sermon 272, 228

  9. Aquinas • An effort to find precise language to describe theological concepts • See Ia Q39 a5 • ST follows Augustine very closely on relation between sign and reality fo sacraments • IIIa Q60 • ST supports Seven Sacraments (first clearly listed by Lombard) • IIIa Q65 a1 • Transubstantiation in Eucharist • IIIa 76

  10. Calvin • ‘Back to Augustine’: a visible sign of a sacred thing • Institutes 4.14 • Only two sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist • Institutes 4.19 • Opposed to transubstantiation; not found in Augustine or Scripture • Institutes 4.17

  11. Ludwig Wittgenstein • Born in Vienna in 1889 • Moved to Cambridge in 1911 and developed close relation with Bertrand Russell • Returned to Austria and fought in WW I • POW • After WWI settled permanently in Cambridge • Died in 1951

  12. Wittgenstein and Language • ‘The only problem in philosophy is language’ • Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was first published in German in 1921, shortly after in English • Thought is more like a picture than language • Language used to express thoughts • Philosophical Investigations was published posthumously in 1953 (translated and edited by G.E.M. Anscombe) • A type of reconsideration of earlier work • Begins with Augustine and language • Augustine’s ostensible model of language too limiting; in particular does not account for how words change within context of use • Develops ‘language-game’ as a way to describe language; but rules of game are not static

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