Exchanging Symbols for Symbolic Exchange

Abstract

This article examines recent articulations of Reformed sacramental theology by Michael Horton and Nicholas Wolterstorff, both of whom appropriate the insights of speech act theory in their accounts of Calvinist sacramentology. I put these expressions of Reformed thought into conversation with the fundamental theology of the French Roman Catholic, Louis-Marie Chauvet, noting areas of convergence. I contend that Chauvet’s sacramental theology provides the resources for the Reformed to develop their own sacramental theology in a considerably higher direction, while also remaining true to their fundamental commitments.