Eucharist

• The Eucharist is important for Christians because it was commanded by Jesus (Matthew 26:26-29, I Corinthians 11: 23-26).
• The Eucharist is important because its name (‘Eucharist’ is Greek for ‘thanksgiving’) refers to the act of Jesus giving God thanks for the bread and wine.
• In this practice, Christians give thanks for forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice.
• The Eucharist serves several functions across denominations: it reminds participants of God’s saving acts including the Passover and Jesus’ sacrifice, it orients them to a positive future: the coming of Jesus (I Cor 11:26), it affirms individual faith as a personal reminder of salvation and it strengthens community as it is practiced in the Church.
• The Eucharist is a source/reminder of rich symbolism: bread of life, the Passover, manna, etc.
• For Roman Catholics, the Eucharist is an outward sign of an inward grace.
• Catholic theology views the eucharist in terms of transubstantiation: the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ as a result of their priestly consecration, affirmed by the 4th Lateran Council (13th c.).
• The ‘accidents’ (the outward appearance) and ‘substance’ (the inner reality) of the bread and wine were thought to become the same in transubstantiation.
• Some Catholic theologians in the 20th century felt that Aristotelian concepts (accidents/substance) and medieval beliefs were irrelevant for today.
• Edward Schillebeeckx introduced ‘transignification’, the idea that what changes at the point of consecration is the significance of the bread and wine to the believer.
• Transfinalisation, the notion that what changes in the eucharist is the final purpose of the bread and wine, was also popular.
• The Catholic Church affirmed these views (1965), as long as they were seen as complementary to transubstantiation – not as replacements for it.
• Luther, with Sola Scriptura, dismissed using Greek categories of thought to define the Eucharist; he believed Jesus was present, but how was a mystery.
• Sometimes Lutherans use the term ‘consubstantiation’ to indicate that Jesus is ‘with’ (‘con’) the bread and wine without a change in their substance.
• Zwingli viewed the Eucharist as merely symbolic.
• The ‘is’ in ‘This is my body’ is not to be taken literally but means ‘signifies’ in Zwingli’s approach, called memorialism, which puts the focus not on the elements themselves, but on the act of remembering.
• ‘Virtualism’ in Calvinism says that though the elements remain unchanged at consecration, believers receive virtue or power through their participation.