Signs and Symbols: A Contemporary Understanding 77 Signs and Symbols: A Contemporary Understanding Rev. Dr. G.P. Wagenfuhr To understand the sacraments, we have to understand something of how symbols work. A symbol requires at least three elements: the sign, the thing signified (or referent), and the community of signification. Modern studies of symbol aid us in understanding the sacraments, even if this is not how Augustine or the Reformers described symbols. The Sign We are all familiar with signs. They are all around us. Street signs, advertisements, brand logos, sports team mascots, and national flags, are all obviously signs. They are graphical depictions of something that we are all familiar with, and they communicate some shared meaning simply by their presence. But perhaps less obviously, all human language is symbolic. Each of the 26 letters of our alphabet are symbols that, when arranged in a certain way, signify something beyond themselves. Calligraphy makes us focus on how words themselves are symbols. The writing of the symbol can be an artwork in and of itself—just like singing, poetry, and different accents can help us focus on the beauty of the spoken words themselves. Thing Signified But words are not performing their intended function if we just focus on the beauty of writing or vocalization. They must point to something beyond themselves. They must signify something. Words can signify concrete objects, like "this loaf of bread" refers to a particular loaf of bread and nothing else. But they can also signify abstract concepts like the word "food." Food is a category of thing, but what it signifies (or conjures in the mind) may be vastly different in different cultures and historical contexts. To a Roman, food could be shellfish, while to a Jew shellfish was forbidden as food. To a Scot, haggis is food. To the American government, a key ingredient of haggis is not fit for human consumption and is not legally distributed. Humans seemingly interact with the world almost entirely by use of signs and symbols. Money is a symbol of value. Time is a symbol of change. Even truth is a symbol as it is (often) an attempt at linking a shared symbol with the non-symbolic nature of reality. 135 135 At least in the correspondence theory of truth.