ABSTRACT
In his theology of the sacraments, Chauvet follows in the footsteps of Karl Rahner both on account of his appropriation of Heidegger’s thought and his emphasis on the nature of symbols.1 However, the contexts in which they received Heidegger’s thought must be recognized as very different. Chauvet encountered Heidegger’s thought in post-war France where he gained popularity only after the Second World War at a time when he was being punished for his advocacy of the National Socialist Revolution.2 Jean Beaufret’s French translation of Being and Time emerged alongside Heidegger’s Letter on Humanism written in response to questions Beaufret raised concerning Heidegger’s project. Thus Chauvet, like many others in France, read Heidegger from the start with full knowledge of the turn in his thought that many Heideggerian scholars see in his response to Beaufret.
