4B Religious identity through diversity in Eucharist Flashcards
What is the most important sacrament?
• The Eucharist
What is the English translation of the Greek, ‘Eucharist’?
• Thanksgiving
What are four other names for the Eucharist?
- Mass
- Holy Communion
- Lord’s Supper
- Divine Liturgy
Rather than ‘doing’ or ‘carrying out’ the Eucharist, what do Christians do?
• ‘Celebrate’ the Eucharist
What did Jesus say regarding the bread?
• “This is my body”
What did Jesus say regarding the wine?
• “This is my blood”
Give the quote from 1 Corinthians 11:26.
• “For as long as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”
What does the Eucharist provide to the soul?
• Spiritual sustenance
What is the Eucharist? (seven points)
- The physical re-enactment of Jesus’ last supper
- A meal which has the real presence of Jesus
- A source of grace to which all believers are invited
- A memorial of Jesus’ last hours on earth
- A celebration of Jesus’ resurrection
- A symbolic reminder of God’s love for humankind
- A fellowship or ‘communion’ of Christians
What are the three Roman Catholic understandings of the Eucharist?
- Transubstantiation (approved)
- Transfiguration (condemned)
- Transfinalisation (condemned)
What is transubstantiation?
- ‘Transformation of the substance’
* When consecrated by an ordaned priest, the bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ
When was the term ‘transubstantiation’ coined and by whom?
- 11th C.
* Hildebert de Lavardin
Who reaffirmed transubstantiation?
- The 1551 Council of Trent
* “wonderful and singular conversion”
What do the Orthodox church believe in?
- ‘transelementation’ or ‘re-ordination’
- Similar to transubstantiation
- The change = a ‘divine mystery’
- They consume ‘mysteriously’
Who put forward the idea of transignification?
• Edward Schillebeeckx
What is transignification?
• When consecrated, the bread and wine take on the real significance of Christ’s body/blood, but are not chemically changed
∴ sacramentally, not physically present
What two concepts related to psychological reality does transignification draw upon?
- ‘Signifier’ and ‘signified’: signifier = the substance of the bread/wine; signified = substance of body/blood
- ‘Local’ and ‘personal’ presence: Jesus = personally, not locally present
Who put forward the idea of transfinalisation?
• Karl Rahner
What is transfinalisation?
- The purpose/finality have changed but not the substance
- They do not become to body/blood but serve the function of conjuring up the faith in the mystery of J’s redemptive love
What did Pope Paul VI say about transignification and transfinalisation in his 1965, Mysterium Fidei?
• “the spread of these and similar opinions does great harm to belief in and devotion to the Eucharist”
What are the three Protestant understandings of the Eucharist?
- Consubstantiation
- Memorialism
- Virtualism
Who put forward the idea of consubstantiation and why?
- Late 16th C. Protestant reformers
* To challenge the RC understanding of transubstantiation
What is consubstantiation?
• The bread/wine do not actually change into the body/blood when consecrated; they remain as bread/wine but J = spiritually present “with them and under them”
∴ bread/wine co-exist with body/blood
What is the relationship between Martin Luther and consubstantiation?
• The term = erroneously employed to designate the view of the Eucharist held by Martin Luther, but it was never used by him + rejected by Lutheran churches as unbiblical
What was Luther’s term for the Eucharist and when was the doctrine set out?
- “sacramental union”; asserted the “real presence” of Jesus in the bread/wine
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession of 1530
What does ‘trans’ mean and how is this relevant to transubstantiation?
- ‘across’/’over’
* In t.sub., there is a literal change over in the bread/wine
What does ‘con’ mean and how is this relevant to consubstantiation?
- ‘with’
* In c.sub., J co-exists with the bread/wine
Who is memorialism associated with?
• Huldrych Zwingli
What is memorialism?
- The real presence of J in Eucharist = denied
- The bread/wine do not communicate him to the recipient; they are symbolic representations of his body/blood
- Luke 22:19 = “Do this in remembrance/memory [anamnesis] of me”
- A commemorative ceremony
- J = present in sacrament only to the degree that each individual brings him to mind
Who put forward the idea of virtualism?
• John Calvin
What is virtualism?
- Related to predestination
- J’s body cannot be present in Eucharist as his body has ascended
- But, does not deny the presence of J’s unique power (Latin: ‘virtus’) in the bread/wine
- This power = only received by the elect
What is virtualism also known as?
• receptionism
