Ricoeur's Concept of Symbol and Its Application in Liturgy

According to Paul Ricoeur's early works Symbolism of Evil and Freud and Philosophy, symbol is an element of language characterised by a double-meaning structure. This conception is modified in Ricoeur's works on metaphor (Living Metaphor and Interpretation Theory) where a sentence (not an isolated word) becomes a point of departure. For Ricoeur, a typical example of symbol is a language of confession; the symbolic action or gesture is not considered. A more appropriate point of departure for the interpretation of liturgy can be found in Ricoeur's theory of text (a unit of discourse more complex than a sentence and "separated" from the author). The interpretation of text offers to the reader new possibilities of being-in-the-world and new self-understanding. Ricoeur finds similar traits in human action, which also has a relative autonomy to his "author" and is open to future interpretations. On that account, Ricoeur's theory of text-action may serve as a ground of a new, more complex theory of symbol, which would also comprise a symbolic action.

Keywords: liturgy; symbol; Ricoeur; Paul