Eucharist: Christ's Feast with the Church

by Laurence Hull Stookey

This book is envisioned as a follow up to Stookey's successful Christ's Act in the Church , published in 1982. It will provide historical--theological perspective in a style that is "popular," rather than academically heavy; and, it will be ecumenical in scope, but with a concentration on Protestantism. The shared Calvinian eucharistic tradition of Presbyterians, UCC, and Methodists will be particularly explored. It will also provide material pertinent to preaching, study of the eucharist by laity, and practical local reform that implements recent revisions of denominational rites.

Genres: Theology, Religion

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Joseph Bouchoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated many aspects, especially the corporate emphasis. However, he makes so many assertions that just aren’t argued for or developed. Perhaps they could be.

[Nathan Marone]

Though Stookey writes from a Wesleyan-Methodist tradition, this is an attempt at an ecumenical theology of Eucharist. There were two things that I appreciated quite a bit here.

1. Stookey's view runs contrary to a lot of evangelicalism, which views Eucharist from a hyper-individualistic perspective. Instead, Stookey sees Eucharist as a distinctly community-oriented event. His reading of the relevant passage in 1st Corinthians is convincing in this respect, as well as his connections with Old Testament rituals and feasts. As an extension of his more community-oriented view, Stookey also calls for us to add celebratory practices of Eucharist in our churches rather than an always somber practice.

2. There's a nice rudimentary outline of the philosophical underpinnings of the various views of Eucharist, which should prove helpful to anyone trying to understand exactly how we got to a transubstantiation view or consubstantiation.

For me this was the pleasant experience of someone articulating a view that I have been inching toward over the years, but have not fully articulated, because I'm not an academic. Examples are dated, since this work is from the early 90s, but that's a minor complaint. Looking forward to trying his books on baptism and church calendar one day.

[Brett Salkeld]

This book has much to commend it. It is well-written, engaging and full of useful insights. Occasionally certain contentious or complicated issues get treatment that seems a touch superficial.