Sacrifice Unveiled by Robert Daly

A guest post by Joyce Ann Zimmerman, Institute for Liturgical Ministries, Dayton, Ohio, USA.

‘For systematic, sacramental, and liturgical theologians, Daly’s four-decades long labour of love in coming to an understanding of Christian sacrifice is legendary.  Yet, read these words taken from one of the autobiographical pages toward the end of Robert J. Daly’s Sacrifice Unveiled:  The True Meaning of Christian Sacrifice: “I, who thought of myself . . . as a recognized expert on Christian sacrifice, discovered that I had . . . totally missed the central point.”  It takes a humble person of integrity, indeed, to admit such a momentous intellectual shift.  Culling from his previously published books and numerous articles on sacrifice, Daly lays out once again the historical and scriptural groundwork for a comprehensive understanding of sacrifice.  But this book is no mere updating of his earlier work.  It demonstrates fresh insight and impeccable systematic scholarship as he reverses his starting point and interprets anew. 

Daly begins by disclosing clearly and succinctly in the opening pages of Sacrifice Unveiled what has now come to be his central point:  Christian sacrifice is best understood as a Trinitarian, inter-personal gift-exchange.  It is a mutually self-giving event taking place between persons. Christian sacrifice does not begin with us and what we do for God, but begins with God and unfolds in a trinity of “moments.”  The first moment is the self-giving of the Father who sends the Son in an act of divine self-communication; the second is the self-offering response to the Father of the Son in his humanity; and the third moment is the self-offering response of Christian believers made possible by the Holy Spirit—who dwells within us and enables us to participate in this divine, Trinitarian gift-exchange.  The “true meaning” of sacrifice is only realized in self-giving as fulfilled in daily ethical self-giving; that is, the believer lives as Jesus did.

Daly’s methodology also marks a reversal, just as his central point turned upside down his approach to sacrifice.  Rather than presenting an historical/theological argument from the beginning and concluding by fleshing out his new insight, he reinterprets the data from the purview of his new central point.  Thus, armed with his Trinitarian approach to sacrifice, Daly reinterprets the early scriptural and patristic foundations for a Christian concept of sacrifice.  Especially by drawing on St. Paul he uses a three-point heuristic for his analysis:  the sacrifice of Christ, the body as temple, and the sacrifice by Christians as ethical living.  Daly then revisits Medieval distortions, Reformation issues, and contemporary violence theory.

This book is not just written for theologians; Daly intends it to be for a much wider audience.  Composed in an accessible and engaging style, he weaves personal experiences, stories, homiletic challenge, and solid theology together in such a way to be appealing to a broad range of readers.  While unabashedly Roman Catholic, this book is sensitive to ecumenical issues and could be an ecumenical dialogue partner in itself.

What a gift Robert J. Daly has given to both the Church and the academic community in Sacrifice Unveiled: The True Meaning of Christian Sacrifice with his reinterpretation of Christian sacrifice as Trinitarian gift-exchange!   Daly began sharing his new thinking with me several years ago.  It is with delight that I read his finished magnum opus.  It has already challenged my own teaching (especially for paschal mystery) and reshaped my thinking and way of living.  I can only hope it does so for other readers.  We owe Bob Daly a great debt of gratitude.’

Sacrifice Unveiled will publish in April in the UK and in June in the US.  

 

Comments

[tony foley]

This is a fairly thorough review of the concept of sacrifice in christianity and it appears that Daly is on the right track about sacrifice being an intra-trinitarian movement into which we are called to participate by offering ourselves. Daly however has a number of bees in his bonnet which will not escape the attentive reader. For example, he is fairly hung up on the words of consecration affecting the Eucharistic sacrifice. I wondered why this was so important to him. I came away doubting Daly's catholicity, in particular, reading between the lines, I am doubtful whether he subscribes to the Catholic/Orthodox view of holy orders. At times, Daly appears to be from the school of thought (rife since the Council) that views the past through a lense of patronising distrust. His ending of the book however was humble and warm and it is delight to see a man in the evening of his life so excited by his subject.