The Sacraments: A Dogmatic Treatise, vol. 1
Overview
Salvation is not merely an internal transformation, but is manifested in the visible signs in the sacraments, which have their origin in the life of Christ—“outward and visible signs of an inward spiritual grace,” as Augustine famously defined them. The first of Pohle’s four volumes on the sacraments introduces readers, in detail, to sacramental theology. He uses Scripture to define the sacraments, their effects, and the ways they should be administered. The second half of this volume explains the sacraments of baptism and confirmation.
- Detailed footnotes and bibliographical material
- Contains a detailed topical index
Top Highlights
“the Term.—‘Sacrament’ is a word of Latin origin. It is derived from sacrare1 and denotes a thing which produces holiness—a means of sanctification.” (Page 5)
“Only the visible signs of internal sanctification are called Sacraments in the proper sense.16” (Page 8)
“sanctificantis,’—a Sacrament is an efficacious sign of sanctifying grace.” (Page 9)
“that they not only signify but actually confer grace” (Page 9)
“‘The first tabernacle, therefore, is the Synagogue; the second, the Church; the third, Heaven.… The first was in a shadow and an image, the second is in an image and in truth, and the third [will be] in the truth alone. In the first, life is foreshadowed; in the second it is given; in the third it is possessed.” (Page 16)
- Title: The Sacraments: A Dogmatic Treatise, vol. 1
- Author: Joseph Pohle
- Edition: 2nd
- Publisher: B. Herder
- Publication Date: 1917
- Pages: 328
Joseph Pohle (1852–1922) studied in Trier, Rome, and was ordained as a priest in 1878. He served as a professor in Baar, Switzerland from 1881 to 1883, as professor at St. Joseph’s College in Leeds, England from 1883 to 1886, and as professor of philosophy in Fulda from 1886 to 1889. In 1889, he moved to America to teach at the newly-founded Catholic University. Pohle returned to Europe in 1894, teaching at Münster and then Breslau, where he served as professor of dogma, and wrote his Dogmatic Theology. He was also a frequent contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia.