The Eucharistic Communion and the World

by John D. Zizioulas

The theology of John Zizioulas presents a beautiful vision of the Church as Eucharistic communion, in which human persons both are gathered into Jesus Christ and are sent back into the world. In his previous books, Zizioulas focused on the way this communion is related to the communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which calls us to understand being as communion and provides the only foundation for otherness and identity. With its sustained attention directly to the Eucharistic communion, this volume provides the context for those discussions. Zizioulas here explores the biblical dimensions and eschatological foundation of the Eucharist, the celebration of the Eucharist by the Church, and the ethos of the Eucharistic community. These essays are provocatively concrete and practical, showing once again that Zizioulas teaching on persons, communion and otherness has radical implications for the life of the Church and its relationship to the world.

Genres: Theology, Christianity

240 pages, ebook

First published April 4, 2011

About the author

His Eminence, the Most Reverend John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon (b. 1931) is a modern theologian and titular Metropolitan of Pergamon, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The future metropolitan was born January 10, 1931. He began his studies at the University of Thessaloniki but took his first theology degree from the University of Athens in 1955. He studied patristics under Father Georges Florovsky at Harvard Divinity School, receiving his M.T.S. in 1956, and his doctorate in theology from the University of Athens in 1965. He was professor of theology for 14 years at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Geneva, Gregorian University, and King's College, London. He was consecrated as a bishop on June 22, 1986 and named Metropolitan of Pergamon.

Reviews

[G Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense and tedious but still rewarding. My enthusiasm for Zizoulas is fading now... He has great things to say, but not only must he (for the sake of the church for which he writes) make them more accessible to the broader audience, but he must also look for a new venue for publishing... this volume was/is ridiculously over priced (which again limits who can and will read it).