| Introduction | p. ix |
| Theology | p. ix |
| The Basic Pastoral Question | p. x |
| The Basic Theological Question | p. xi |
| Overture: Three Theoretical Models | p. xiii |
| Objectivist Model | p. xiv |
| Subjectivist Model | p. xvii |
| The Vatican II Model | p. xxi |
| Structure: The Symbolic Order: The Sacraments: One Element of Christian Existence | |
| The Human Subject in Language and Culture | p. 3 |
| Language as Instrument | p. 3 |
| Language as Mediation | p. 6 |
| The Symbolic Order | p. 13 |
| The Christian Subject in the Language and Culture of the Church | p. 19 |
| The Structure of Christian Identity | p. 20 |
| Three Key Texts | p. 20 |
| Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke | p. 22 |
| The Story of the Disciples of Emmaus | p. 23 |
| The Mediation of the Church | p. 29 |
| Scriptures/Sacraments/Ethics | p. 29 |
| The Priority of the Ecclesial "We" | p. 31 |
| The Celebrating Assembly | p. 34 |
| Pastoral Consequences | p. 38 |
| Faith or the Assent to a Loss | p. 39 |
| The Temptation of Immediacy | p. 39 |
| Maintaining a Distance | p. 40 |
| Relations between the Elements of the Structure | p. 43 |
| Relations between the Scriptures and Sacrament | p. 43 |
| The Scriptures, Sacrament of God's Word | p. 43 |
| The Sacrament, "Precipitate" of the Scriptures | p. 47 |
| Evangelization and Sacraments | p. 51 |
| Relations between Sacraments and Ethics | p. 54 |
| Jewish Worship | p. 54 |
| Jesus and Jewish Worship | p. 59 |
| The Status of Christian Worship | p. 61 |
| Conclusion | p. 65 |
| One Element of the Structure: The Sacraments as Ritual Symbols | |
| Symbol | p. 69 |
| What Is Meant by Symbol | p. 69 |
| Some Examples | p. 69 |
| Analysis | p. 70 |
| Sign and Symbol | p. 74 |
| The Act of Symbolization | p. 83 |
| Analysis | p. 83 |
| Sacramental Symbolization | p. 85 |
| Symbol Efficacy | p. 91 |
| The Bread of the Word | p. 91 |
| The Sacraments of the Word | p. 92 |
| Return to Our Original Question | p. 95 |
| The Language of Rite | p. 97 |
| An Original Language Game | p. 97 |
| Some Laws of Ritual Language | p. 99 |
| An Action-Language | p. 99 |
| A Symbolic Language | p. 101 |
| A Language That Breaks Away from Ordinary Language | p. 103 |
| A Programmed, Therefore Repeatable Language | p. 106 |
| A Language That Assigns Positions | p. 110 |
| Evangelizing the Rite | p. 111 |
| Theological Summary | p. 113 |
| Functioning of the Structure: Symbolic Exchange | |
| Symbolic Exchange | p. 117 |
| Anthropological Stakes | p. 117 |
| Theological Pertinence | p. 123 |
| Symbolic Exchange Between Humanity and God: The Eucharistic Prayer | p. 129 |
| Narrative Analysis | p. 129 |
| The Status of the Narrative of Institution, the Anamnesis, and the Epiclesis | p. 133 |
| The Story of the Institution | p. 133 |
| The Discourse of Anamnesis | p. 135 |
| The Discourse of Epiclesis | p. 136 |
| The Relation Christ/Church in the Eucharist | p. 138 |
| The Threefold Body of Christ | p. 139 |
| The Lord's Supper According to Paul | p. 140 |
| The Rites of Communion | p. 141 |
| Symbolic Exchange in the Eucharistic Prayer | p. 143 |
| The Eucharistic Process | p. 143 |
| Widening of the Perspective | p. 145 |
| Function of the Moment Sacrament | p. 146 |
| Christian Identity and Jewish Identity | p. 147 |
| One Process of Identity | p. 148 |
| A Different Treatment | p. 151 |
| Sacramental Mystery and Trinitarian Mystery | |
| The Sacraments of Christ's Passover in the Spirit | p. 155 |
| Classical Sacramental Theology's Point of Departure: The Incarnation | p. 155 |
| Our Point of Departure: The Paschal Mystery of Christ | p. 156 |
| The Ancient Tradition | p. 156 |
| A Paschal Mystery Demanding to Be Understood in Its Whole Extent | p. 159 |
| Consequences of This Point of Departure | p. 160 |
| Sacramental Discourse and Christological Discourse | p. 161 |
| My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? | p. 161 |
| The Son and the Father | p. 162 |
| The Sacraments | p. 164 |
| Sacramental Discourse and Pneumatological Discourse | p. 164 |
| The Paradoxes of the Spirit | p. 165 |
| Pastoral Applications | |
| Managing the Request for Rites of Passage | p. 173 |
| The Celebration of the Four Seasons of Life | p. 173 |
| In Contemporary Catholicism | p. 174 |
| Requests for Sacramental Rites of Passage and Content of Beliefs | p. 174 |
| Psycho-Social Clarifications | p. 176 |
| The Pastoral Interview | p. 184 |
| Communication as Interaction and Decoding | p. 185 |
| From the Start, a Situation Fraught with Pitfalls | p. 187 |
| Landmarks for the Pastoral Interview | p. 192 |
| Conclusion | p. 199 |
| Index | p. 201 |
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