defined in terms of transformation from a condition of death
to one of life. The transformation is elaborated in a structural
and dynamic sequence of active and passive exchanges be-
tween God and humanity. The line of action of God toward
humans initiates the sequence and is coordinated—in a dia-
logical structure—with a complementary line of action of
humans toward God. Initiated by gift, the sequence passes
through a creative intentional crisis that is specified in the
sacrifice and leads, at the end of the process of transforma-
tion, to a differentiation of a total object relation. The perfor-
mative model of the festivals of Easter time (which articulates
the three dominant sacramental symbols and which is central
to the religious year) constitutes an order of relation between
intentional events that have been differentiated through the
“history of salvation” from creation and the original relation
with God to the constitution of the covenant.
From the point of view of the epigenetic performative
sequence, the order of “events” in a sacred history derives its
significance and constitutive character not primarily from
the chronological aspect of the sequence but from its relation
to the dynamics and transformations of the intentional bond
and from the conditions of continuity of that bond. Togeth-
er the two complementary models, the epigenetic and the
performative, constitute the periodical order of a religious
figura which, in its temporal unity, sustains the dynamic
continuity of the intentional relation. The three phases of the
ritual process translate each of the three epigenetic positions
and the sequence as a whole, which develops the institutional
forms of the intentional relation into the performative pat-
tern of a fact coming into being.
The sacrifice is at the center of the figura both in the
epigenetic sequence and in the performative process. As the
point of qualitative change in the creation of the bond, the
sacrifice is the active resolution of what is contradictory to
the bond and the affirmation of a new condition of total ob-
ject relation. In the ritual process, the sacrifice specifies the
structural differentiation of the intentional bond in its “com-
ing into being.” The ritual process may be described as a per-
formative sequence that has an epigenetic function.
The performative articulation of symbols and festivals
creates the temporal order of the positions of epigenesis
through the ritual sequence while maintaining the explicit
connection of each festival and dominant symbol with the
central symbolic position elaborated by the sacrifice. This re-
sults in a periodical correlation of the different symbols with
the transformative structure of the sacrifice. While festivals
mark the change related to the symbolic positions, the sacri-
fice renews the central dynamic of the nascent state of the
bond. This periodical process of the figura creates a “dynam-
ic state,” which corresponds to the complex intentional rela-
tion of the bond.
The calendrical system elaborates the periodical tempo-
ral order of the figura, which is ritually performed in the in-
terval of the year through a set of festivals. Recurrent inter-
vals of the year, like the week or the day, offer a rhythmic
movement of religious time repeating in ritual form the cen-
tral paradigm of the figura.
The performance of the figura, which is the original
central structure of time, is also the anamnesis and memorial
of the foundation of the bond. The historical formation of
the calendar shows a progressive differentiation of a set of fes-
tivals, which is correlated to the central structure of the figura
and which celebrates the apotheosis of the historical founder,
the unity of the people of the covenant, and the celebration
of those events that have been most significant for the histor-
ical continuity and development of the bond. The two orders
of time, the periodical symbolic structure of the bond and
the celebration of the continuity and the tradition of the
bond, are frequently positioned along two discrete temporal
axes within the periodical interval of the year. For example,
the epigenetic performance may be positioned on the lunar
axis; the celebration of the historical formation of the tradi-
tion may be positioned on the solar axis. But the religious
calendar expresses primarily the order of the temporal epige-
netic symbols.
The intentional bond creates and sustains an objective
order of relations that is linguistic, institutional, and norma-
tive. Although it may appear to be independent of the time
of epigenetic performance, this symbolic institutional order
has an inherently temporal structure and is ruled by the time-
like order of the figura.
The figura is dynamic rather than static, synchronic as
well as diachronic; it is related to the event but in such a way
that the event may be understood as a nascent state and the
creative element of history and continuity. The figura is not
an ahistorical archetype, nor is it a rigid whole, obeying some
closed formal principle. It is, instead, connected to the histo-
ry of religious interpretation and ideas; it is internal to the
process of formation of intentional action and to that of the
social bond. The figura expresses a form of causality that is
specific to the intentional character of the historical event.
The individual is directly active in forming and per-
forming the figura but the figura is the way toward the bond
for the individual. By defining the dynamic structure of the
bond, the figura traces an initiatory path toward the public
character of experience. The time of the figura becomes the
time and depth of the religious structure of mind of the indi-
vidual.
The symbolic time system within a culture may present
a broad range of historical variation. By the way in which the
polar aspects of the figura are emphasized, a tradition may
differ in style and in institutional form. For example, Mani-
chaeism and other forms of religious dualism explain the
confrontation inherent in the intentional relation as a con-
flict between two opposite and independent systems of reali-
ty and two orders of time. Other religious systems, such as
Judaism, connect the religious polarities into one order of re-
lation and correlate the intentional confrontation with the
time itself of the intentional bond.8918 SYMBOLIC TIME