The Sacramental Vision of Edward Bouverie Pusey (T&T Clark Studies in English Theology)

Offering a decisive challenge to the older reception of Pusey as a paragon of backwards scholarship, Tobias A. Karlowicz argues that Pusey is properly understood as a penetrating and original theologian whose work anticipated contemporary conversations about the nature of theology, and a pivotal figure in the history of Anglican theology. Karlowicz locates the heart of Pusey’s project in a theological perception which looks through the physicality and concreteness of language, to discern Christ at the centre of both Scripture and the physical creation. This ‘sacramental vision,’ which grew from Pusey’s critique of Christianity’s decay and his formative engagement with patristic hermeneutics and ontology, forms his teaching on the sacraments as vehicles for a Christian life of eucharistic self-oblation in union with Christ, and demonstrates the relevance of his thought to contemporary theology. "Despite his standing as one of the fathers of the Oxford Movement, Edward Bouverie Pusey was regarded, for much of the twentieth century, as a paragon of backwards scholarship and oppressive spirituality. In recent years, however, a more positive assessment of Pusey's life and work has begun to emerge. T. A. Karlowicz now offers a decisive challenge to the older reception of Pusey, arguing that Pusey is properly understood as a penetrating and original theologian whose work anticipated contemporary conversations about the nature of theology, and a pivotal figure in the history of Anglican theology. Karlowicz locates the heart of Pusey's theological project in a theological perception which looks through the physicality and concreteness of language, to discern Christ at the centre of both Scripture and the physical creation. This 'sacramental vision,' which grew from Pusey's critique of Christianity's decay and his formative engagement with patristic hermeneutics and ontology, forms his teaching on the sacraments as vehicles for a Christian life of eucharistic self-oblation in union with Christ, and demonstrates the relevance of his thought to contemporary theology"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Note on Text Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1 Pusey reinterpreted Chapter 2 Allegory and the sacramental vision Chapter 3 Baptism and union with Christ Chapter 4 Communion and the real presence Chapter 5 Sacrifice and the atonement Chapter 6 Sacrifice and the sacraments Conclusion Reclaiming Pusey for theology Bibliography Index