| Summary: | Sacramental theologies, in the last years published in the German-speaking area, show a great interdependence and present only a little new. All theologians deal with the same questions in a similar way. Of course, some of them give original summaries. But the fathers of the newer theology of sacrament (Rahner, Schillebeeckxs, Semmelroth, Betz, but also Casel, Guardini etc.) are as important now as before. They influence the questions and answers of modern theologians (Nocke, Müller, Koch, Courth, Scholl, Emeis, Hempelmann etc.). The meaning of symbol is still a great problem, especially the relation between word and sacrament. All authors emphasize more or less the anthropological dimension of sacrament: All sacramental theologies give reasons for an anthropological understanding (body, soul and spirit) of symbol and sacrament, but they neglect especially the personal meaning of sacrament. A personal meaning reflects sacrament as a mutual perichoretic process of self-communication from one person to another. This means an analogue term of person, corresponding to human being and to the trinity. The christological, ecclesioiogical and (human-) anthropological aspects are well unfolded, the personal and trinitarian aspects only a little. The works of Courth, Koch and Müller are most competent, that of Nocke more practical. We need a new view of sacramental personality and in this way a new sacramental theology.
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