The sacramental economy was instituted by Christ and entrusted to His Church in order to build up the Body of Christ in a twofold communion: binding the members together with God and one another.

Touched by Christ: The Sacramental Economy is an introductory course on Sacramental Theology suitable for all who seek a deeper understanding of how the Church’s sacraments constitute channels of grace, nurture supernatural life, and heal us from our sins.

Lawrence Feingold expertly describes the nature of the sacraments; their purpose, fittingness, and relationship with Christ and the New Covenant; their relationship with the Old Covenant rites that prefigured them; the character and grace that they communicate; and the nature of their causality.

Touched by Christ shows that the sacraments of the New Covenant should be understood as instruments of Christ’s humanity that are used as words of power to communicate the sanctification that they signify, infuse grace, communicate the Holy Spirit, and build up ecclesial communion in those who receive them with the right dispositions.

Dr. Lawrence Feingold is Associate Professor of Theology (and Philosophy) at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, from 2012​ to the present. He taught at Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology from 2006 to 2012. He converted to Catholicism in 1989 together with his wife while engaged in realist marble sculpture in Pietrasanta, Italy. In 1999 he earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He is the author of The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice, and Communion (2018); Faith Comes from What Is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology (2016); a three-volume series entitled The Mystery of Israel and the Church (2010); and The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas Aquinas and His Interpreters (2010).

“Touched by Christ is a monumental achievement. Lawrence Feingold provides a comprehensive study of Catholic sacramental theology and practice informed by Scripture, the Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. This volume touches on all the major areas of sacramental theology from the institution of the sacraments by Christ to topics such as sacramental causality, grace, matter, form, validity, liceity, and fruitfulness. I know of no other work on the sacraments that is so comprehensive, well-informed, and theologically sound as this one.”

Robert Fastiggi, Bishop Kevin M. Britt Chair of Dogmatic Theology and Christology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

“Feingold brings his talent for thoroughness and clarity to this brilliant treatment of the sacramental economy. In contradiction to modernity’s general loss of the sacramental vision, this volume reestablishes the fittingness of sacraments on the grounds of Christology and anthropology. It brings us to a renewed spiritual understanding of the sacramental life by conjoining historical sources, theological questions, and pastoral concerns. Superb for the classroom or for personal theological study.”

David W. Fagerberg, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

“Larry Feingold has done it yet again! Accessible, erudite, and engaging, this book should be assigned in all colleges and seminaries as the go-to introduction to the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Everyone from parish study groups to expert scholars will benefit from its wide-ranging erudition, concise clarity, and profound faith. Instructive and inspiring!”

Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

“The Catholic Church has been waiting for this volume for over a generation. Professor Lawrence Feingold has distinguished himself—yet again—as one of the finest sapiential pedagogues among the guild of Catholic theologians today. In Touched by Christ, Feingold presents the totality of the Church’s sacramental doctrine in one self-contained volume without decoupling the seven sacraments from their general foundation or offering a general theology of the sacraments without proper reference to each of the seven. There is no single-volume treatment of the sacraments in print today that accomplishes as much as Touched by Christ. With the level of erudition and fidelity that is manifest on every page, this volume is sure to be the standard-bearer and common point of reference for students and scholars of sacramental theology for years to come.”

Roger W. Nutt, Provost, Ave Maria University