Expansive Naturalism and the Justification of Metaphysics in Sacramental Theology

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A feature of much modem sacramental theology, and indeed theology in general, is a distrust of traditional metaphysical categories such as ‘cause’ and ‘effect.’ Much of the impetus for this has arisen from the critique of metaphysics instigated by Martin Heidegger, which has sought to overcome the “totalising” tendency of traditional Western thought. In the theological sphere this position has generally taken the form of regarding metaphysics as imposing a straitjacketing framework upon the intersubjective dynamic of grace and symbolic mediation.It is the aim of this article to question this critique as it appears in what is perhaps the locus classicus of the post-Heideggerian approach to sacramental theology, Louis-Marie Chauvet’s very fine book, Symbol and Sacrament. It is not the aim of this article to examine Chauvet’s sacramental theology per se, but, rather, to evaluate one of the principal motivating factors behind his theology, namely, the rejection of metaphysics. It will be argued that Chauvet’s concerns do not entail a rejection of metaphysics tout court. In addition, it will be argued that the non-reductive naturalist worldviews of modem mainstream British moral realists such as James Griffin, John McDowell and David Wiggins effectively undermine the dichotomies underpinning the rejection. This has the advantage of lessening the apparent differences between different theological camps through the establishment of a basis of common intelligibility. Although there have been other attempts to reconcile Chauvet’s theology with metaphysics, most notably with the process metaphysics of Whitehead, this article approaches the problem from a more traditional metaphysical viewpoint and thereby one more likely to command widespread agreement.