The Promise and Power of the Sacraments
SCOTT HAHN
Doubleday
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a division of Random House, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hahn, Scott.
Swear to God : the promise and power of the Sacraments / Scott Hahn.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Sacraments—Catholic church. I. Title.
BX2200H24 2003
234'.16—dc22 2003070006
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Michael J. Hull, STD, Censor Librorum
Imprimatur: His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, February 25, 2004
The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.
ISBN 0-385-50931-6
Copyright © 2004 by Scott Walker Hahn
All Rights Reserved
June 2004
first edition
What’s the Big Idea?: The Meaning of Covenant (and Everything Else)
Do You Solemnly Swear?: Sacraments as Covenant Oaths
“A Bore,” I Swore
I was the kind of first-year graduate student who believed in his own resume. I had arrived, on scholarship, at a prestigious evangelical seminary after a stellar undergraduate career—and in the first semester of my master’s program, I’d scored straight As.
It was second semester now, and I walked the scenic hundred acres of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as if they were my inheritance. Beside me walked my bright and beautiful bride, who was also a graduate student. Kimberly and I were newlyweds, and when I held forth on any subject, her face radiated love, intelligent interest, and, usually, perfect agreement. Her loveliness and her love for me seemed a visible sign of God’s blessing upon my life—and a seal on my high self-estimation.
No one was as sure of the law of gravity as I was sure of the soundness of my judgments.
One afternoon, Kimberly and I were leaving class when we saw a friend of ours in the building’s vestibule. George was a good fellow. He was a highly motivated student, like me. And he considered himself a staunch Calvinist, though I rated myself even stauncher. George was also a voracious reader, like me. So whenever I saw him with new books, I’d ask him for titles. That afternoon, he was carrying books. “So, George, what are you reading,” I asked, “anything ...
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About Swear to God: The Promise and Power of the SacramentsThe most solemn, majestic, and beautiful gifts that Jesus Christ gave to the world are his sacraments. He endowed them with unprecedented and unparalleled power—power to change lives, save souls, and share God’s very life. The sacraments are the ordinary means by which God directs the course of each human life and all of world history. The Church celebrates seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, matrimony, holy orders, confession, and anointing of the sick. Each was established by Jesus for the sake of salvation. When Jesus spoke of the sacraments, he made clear that they were essential: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (Jn 3:5) … unless you eat of the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (Jn 6:53). In Swear to God, Dr. Scott Hahn explores the richness of Christ’s sacraments—their doctrine, history, symbols, and rituals. Drawing upon the Bible and the Church’s tradition, he shows how God’s covenants—with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—became the driving forces in history. When Jesus came to fulfill all these covenants, He established a new covenant, with greater power than ever before. Christians are God’s children now. Joined to Christ by baptism, we can already share in the eternal life of the Trinity, a life we hope to know fully in heaven. But heaven is with us, even now, in the sacraments. |
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