Fulfilled in Christ: The Sacraments. A Guide to Symbols and Types in the Bible and Tradition

by Fr Devin Roza, Scott Hahn (Foreword)

Fr. Devin Roza's Fulfilled in Christ is a guide to the tradition of typological interpretation of the Bible. It unveils the parallels between the signs and events of the Scriptures and the Sacraments of the Church, as represented in the New Testament as well as the liturgy and teachings of the Catholic Church. The Early Church read the Scriptures with the conviction that (in the words of St. Augustine), "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New." Drawing inspiration from how both the Apostles and Christ himself read the Old Covenant as referring to the New (cf. Luke 24:27, 1 Peter 3:20-21, 1 Corinthians 10:1-5), the Church found the Old Testament to be rich with figures, or "types," that foreshadowed both the mysteries of the life of Christ and the mysteries, or Sacraments, of the New Covenant. This tradition of interpretation was integral to the development Christian doctrine, and manifested itself in the life of the Church most fully in the Sacred Liturgy. Fulfilled in Christ makes this tradition accessible, providing scriptural background for the types and symbols for each of the Sacraments, and a thorough summary and index of references to the places these parallels and symbols are drawn or explained within the Scriptures, the liturgy (including the Patristic readings of the Liturgy of the Hours), and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Genres: Christian

386 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2015

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fulfilled in Christ is arranged like a compact encyclopedia on the sacraments. Because of this presentation, there is a brief guide on how to use this book before reading it. Each sacrament receives its own section, and each section contains types and symbols. Each type/symbol contains introductory material composed of Scriptural references, Catechism references, and cross-references to other types/symbols within the book. After the introductory material for each type/symbol are summaries of all the references to the specific type/symbol. For an example, both the sacrifice of Christ and the Eucharist were prefigured by animal sacrifices, We then are treated to numerous Scriptural references of animal sacrifices, both sufficient ones and insufficient ones. At the end of the book are appendices which contain readings from the Liturgy for each sacrament and a list of readings from the Liturgy of the Hours that the author, Dr. Devin Roza used in this book.

It's hard to say one has a favorite section in a book of this nature, but the Introduction in this book was very enlightening. For starters, it covered how many different Church Fathers made use of typology with their study and interpretation of types and symbols in the Bible. Dr. Roza also discusses the unity of the Old and New Testament and how God's plan was fulfilled in Jesus. And like any good scholar, he finally presents the other side of the argument, and explains why typology has fallen out of grace and how one must not accept all typology as good typology. His chief example is St. Cyprian of Carthage suggesting that Noah getting drunk on wine prefigured the Eucharist. That's absurd to even think about, and proof that even saints aren't perfect.

When I received this book, I thought I was getting a scholarly tome that broke down each sacrament in essay form or chapter form. The book is scholarly, but it does not read like an essay or typical book. It is instead more systematic and reads like a reference book, where if you had a specific type or symbol you wanted to know more about, you would flip to that specific section and read the notes and reference the specific Scripture and Catechism passages. This is not a bad thing. It is just not what I was expecting. If you want to have a comprehensive guide to Sacramental typology this book is first class. If you want to understand Scripture better, are a seminarian, or studying theology, then this book belongs on your reference shelf. It has earned a coveted place on my Bible study desk alongside some Bible dictionaries, concordances, and atlases, and is a volume I will reference for years to come.