The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification (continued)
Five
Ecclesial Reception of
the Divine Life
illi suspirat membrum est enim sponsae
et illi zelat amicus est enim sponsi
Introduction
In his centenary address on Augustine at the University of Tübingen, Karl Adam argued that as Augustine grew as a pastor and theologian, he came to see how the sacraments were the necessary agents of unity. As we have seen, Augustine emphasized that it was the Son's corporeality which drew believers into God. This unity between enfleshed persons is what allowed Karl Adam to argue that Christianity for Augustine is necessarily sacramental: ". . . for it is by means of the sacraments that our union with Christ is established, renewed and deepened. In his early period Augustine had little use for the sacraments; he now sees in them the most speaking symbols and most perfect expression of Christianity. For the sacraments are exclusively concerned with the enactment of the central Christian 'mystery,' our essential union with the new man Christ."1
1. Karl Adam, Saint Augustine: The Odyssey of His Soul [Die geistige Entwicklung des heiligen Augustinus], translated by Justin McCann (New York: Macmillan Co., 1932), 46.