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Therese Scarpelli Cory, The Cleansing of the Heart: The Sacraments as Instrumental Causes in the Thomistic Tradition. By Reginald Lynch, The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 70, Issue 2, October 2019, Pages 936–938, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flz111
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In this well-researched book, Lynch examines the Thomistic tradition’s solution to a fundamental problem of sacramental theology: how do the sacraments communicate grace to human beings? The book traces how Aquinas’s well-known view of the sacraments as instrumental causes of grace developed from early scholastic debates with roots in Augustine, how the position was developed by the subsequent Thomistic tradition, and how it broke down in the early modern period shortly after the Council of Trent. But the book is also more than a historical study. Lynch provides a nuanced and compelling account of the Thomistic ‘instrumental cause’ view that resists mechanical or magical mischaracterizations, illuminates its christological and ecclesial significance, and demonstrates the view’s potential for engaging fruitfully with contemporary trends towards thinking about sacraments in terms of participation in ecclesial life. In laying bare the underlying conceptual fault lines in theorizing about sacramental causality, Lynch makes a persuasive case that no sacramental theology can do without an account of sacramental causality, and that the Thomistic ‘instrumental cause’ account can continue to be a serious and attractive contender today.
