Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

Rate this book
The Lord's Supper is the world in miniature; it has cosmic significance. Within it we find clues to the meaning of all creation and all history, to the nature of God and the nature of man, to the mystery of the world, which is Christ. It is not confined to the first day, for its power fills seven. Though the table stands at the center, its effects stretch out to the four corners of the earth. This collection includes twenty-eight of theologian Peter Leithart's Eucharistic meditations on the Supper. They are immensely practical and thick with exegesis.

190 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2000

15 people are currently reading
338 people want to read

About the author

Peter J. Leithart

130 books364 followers
Peter Leithart received an A.B. in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987. In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England. He has served in two pastorates: He was pastor of Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church), Birmingham, Alabama from 1989 to 1995, and was founding pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, Moscow, Idaho, and served on the pastoral staff at Trinity from 2003-2013. From 1998 to 2013 he taught theology and literature at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho, where he continues to teach as an adjunct Senior Fellow. He now serves as President of Trinity House in Alabama, where is also resident Church Teacher at the local CREC church. He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and five grandchildren.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
81 (48%)
4 stars
72 (42%)
3 stars
10 (5%)
2 stars
2 (1%)
1 star
3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
Profile Image for Jacob Aitken.
1,687 reviews419 followers
September 4, 2015
Wow! This book was good. It was intended to be read as a meditation before each of the Lord's Suppers celebrated in the church; however, I couldn't put it down.

The purpose of the book is to eventually show how the celebration of the Lord's Supper leads to eschatological renewal and subsequently, the transformation of culture. This is the Epilogue of the book. The chapter (each about five pages or so) build up to this theme.

Leithart examines the many facets of the Supper in biblical history, starting with Adam and ending in The New Jerusalem. Leithart looks for the feasting theme in Scripture (Adam delighting and communing with God in Paradise--The Second Adam inagurating the Feast that will bring about the New Paradise. Daniel and his friends refuse the King's food and so reconstitute the New Israel who will return from Captivity. The disciples eat the Supper as symbolic of the massive forgiveness that is about to come to the world via cross and resurrection; this forgiveness entailing the reversal of the Curse of the First Adam. In taking the Feast the disciples become the New Israel.).

As an example of Leithart's excellent writing, consider the value of being drunk with Yahweh's wine:

Zechariah 9:15, "The Lord of hosts will protect them,
and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.

"But the passage pictures Israel drunk with another kind of wine: filled with the wine of Yahweh's Spirit, Israel would be bold, wild, untamed, boisterous in battle. This suggests one dimension of the symbolism of wine in the Lord's Supper: it loosens our inhibitions so that we wil fight the Lord's battles in a kind of drunken frenzy. If this sounds impious, how much more Psalm 78:65, where the Divine Warrior himself is described as a mighty man overcome with wine? Yahweh fights like Samson, but far more ferociously than Samson: He fights like a drunken Samson!"

We are to be contrite over our sins but at the same time we are to rejoice that our sins are forgiven and the New Age--the Messianic Age, the Age to Come--has broken into the present evil age. Christ is becoming King over the World! Yes, from one perspective we are to mourn over our sins but at the same time, we are to take heart that our sins are forgiven. Weeping may tarry the night, but joy comes in the morning!
Profile Image for Eric Chappell.
282 reviews
August 27, 2016
These meditations (and concluding essay on Eucharist, Eschatology, & Culture) are mind blowing. Seriously, this is theology at it's best. A work that draws us into the drama of Scripture, unfolds the doctrine in its brilliance, leads us to doxological exclamation, and invites us into rich discipleship through the ordinary means Jesus instituted. For those of you skeptical of some of Leithart's theology, this book has a Michael Horton endorsement on the back. Dive in.

Impossible to summarize. My copy is now full of underlining and marginal notes. Leithart takes you from Genesis to Revelation through the thread of meals, food, and feasting. If you are a teetotaler, you'll be convinced otherwise. If you're not convinced of the regular practice of the Supper, prepare to be. If you merely see food as nutrition and fuel, you'll be rebuked. If you're struggling with bad eating habits, you are invited into the rich feast of Christ and His Word.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Profile Image for J. Michael.
136 reviews6 followers
September 3, 2023
Simply superb. If you partake of the Lord’s Supper you ought to read this. Read it Sabbath by Sabbath as you go to the table.
Profile Image for CJ Bowen.
628 reviews22 followers
July 12, 2009
By not rehashing the Reformation debates over presence and sacrificial character, Dr. Leithart's meditations on the Lord's Supper has taught me more about the Lord's Supper than any book I've read. He closes with the reminder that the command is not "Reflect on this" but rather "Do this". This book helps to foster the hunger that feasting with Jesus fulfills.
Profile Image for Rick Davis.
869 reviews141 followers
December 7, 2010
After finishing Defending Constantine, I sat down with another book by Peter Leithart, Blessed are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord’s Supper. I originally intended to use Dr. Leithart’s meditations as devotional material, but I found that I couldn’t put the book down and finished it in a few days.

The majority of the book is a series of prolonged meditations on various aspects of the Lord’s Supper. Dr. Leithart draws on Ancient Near Eastern religions, Greek philosophy, and other historical material in order to highlight the unique character of Israel’s God and explain how these things inform our view of the Lord’s Supper. Most of his meditations are typological, pointing to some aspect of Israel’s history being fulfilled in the Christian rite. At the end of the book, he includes an academic article, originally written for the Westminster Theological Journal, entitled “The Way Things Really Ought To Be: Eucharist, Eschatology, and Culture.”

As the reader progresses through this book, he will soon realize that arguments about the substance of the bread and wine that have divided the Church for centuries are not present. Rather, Leithart focuses on the event of the Supper instead of the individual elements. In the closing essay, the reason for this is made clear. For many years, the Church has focused on the Lord’s Supper through a zoom lens, looking only at the elements on the altar, and not seeing the Lord’s Supper as an act performed by Christ’s body. The Eucharist is not merely the physical elements, but the performative act as well, demonstrating in miniature the way the world ought to be. It is an eschatological vision of the wedding feast of the Lamb, and the meal of Christian unity. Though a discussion of the elements may be helpful (and Leithart doesn’t mind mentioning offhand that he is after all a Protestant) it is not the major focus of the event. I think Leithart would wholeheartedly agree with St. Augustine’s summary:

“If you want to know what the body of Christ is, you must listen to what the apostle Paul tells the faithful: 'Now you are the body of Christ, and individually you are members of it.'

If that is so, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord's table, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you are receiving. You reply 'Amen' to what you are, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words 'The body of Christ' and you reply 'Amen.' Be, then, a member of Christ's body, so that your 'Amen' may accord with the truth.”

Because of Leithart’s focus, the book would be equally appropriate for a Roman Catholic, an Anglican, a Lutheran, or a Christian of any other denominational persuasion. He even quotes the Archbishop of Canterbury, Eastern Orthodox writers, and others in his meditations and essay. For a book on the Lord’s Supper that seeks to be ecumenical in the best, non-liberal sense of the word, Blessed are the Hungry is a gem.
Profile Image for Becky Pliego.
707 reviews591 followers
May 12, 2016
If you are member of a church which administers the Lord's Supper every Lord's Day with wine and bread, you are truly blessed.

Some further thoughts: How can some possibly say that one can make the Lord's Supper irrelevant and get "too used" to it if it is administered every week is beyond my comprehension. Isn't it what we, Christians, should long for every week? Just as much as we long to hear the Word preached, and the meeting with other Saints and worship the Triune God with them, and recite our Creeds at unison, we also long -deep down in our heart- to come together at the Table, and be refreshed and nourished every week. What else can we long for after a prayer of confession and the assurance of forgiveness, but to come to the Table to be reminded that we are welcome to Jesus Christ, that we are His children indeed and can come to His table and eat with Him.

I love this series of meditations that P. Leithart wrote. Each one is a wonderful invitation to celebrate the Lord's Supper wholeheartedly.

Profile Image for Peter Jones.
641 reviews132 followers
July 21, 2010
Here Leithart shows how the Supper is everywhere in Scripture because Christ is everywhere in Scripture. Fruitful reading for the Christian life and for understanding Communion.
Profile Image for Kevin Godinho.
243 reviews14 followers
February 28, 2022
This was a great book on the Lord's Supper. Leithart brings out the various meanings that can be derived from the Lord's Supper throughout Scripture: from Covenant renewal, to the Passover, to a celebration feast. There is a lot happening during the Lord's Supper. It is the meal that the people of God gather around. It is at the center of the City of God. How we partake in the Eucharist, how we worship on the Lord's Day, molds who we are and how we view ourselves and those around us. It molds our view of the world.

Leithart's final portion on the Eucharist and eschatology at the end of the book was really good. He describes Christian culture being formed around the Eucharist and what the Body of Christ looks like in light of eschatology. Really good stuff.

Here is a snippet from one of my favorite of Leithart's meditations:

"When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He called it His memorial (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25), and this should be understood in the same sense as Old Testament "memorials." Our meal is not designed in the first place to remind us of what Jesus has done, though it does and by doing that it constantly renews our memory of the cross and the empty tomb. Essentially, though, the Supper is not a meal to help us remember; it is a memorial meal. Like the Passover, it is directed to the Father, "reminding" Him of the covenant sealed in the blood of His Son, calling on Him to draw near and act for us. The blood of Christ was shed once-for-all, but each time we break bread and drink wine before the Father, we display the tokens of Christ's sacrifice to "remind" the Father of that once-for-all act. Seeing the blood of the true Lamb, He renews His covenant and announces His forgiveness afresh. Seeing the blood of the Lamb, He passes over and carries out His judgments against Egypt."
Profile Image for Chris.
274 reviews
March 19, 2024
What an encouraging read. It will introduce you to a biblical theology of food and feasting, while applying it to the Lord’s Supper in ways you may have never considered.

You will likely not agree with all of Leithart’s interpretations or hermeneutics. But the connections between feasting from the Garden to the coming Kingdom are undeniable. Jesus Himself said at the inauguration of the New Covenant:

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” — Matthew 26:27-29

These 28 short, devotional chapters will give you much food for thought! ;)
29 reviews
June 7, 2025
So much YES!! But it all boils down, basically, to this: Discern the body. The church IS the body.
Profile Image for Steve.
23 reviews
March 27, 2012
This book is an excellent collection of 28 short devotional meditations on the Lord’s Supper. Peter Leithart combines his keen insights into Scripture and Reformed theology with a warm and pastoral style to explore the deep significance of the sacrament for the life of the Church. According the Leithart, a biblical worldview places the Table of the Lord at the very center of the universe where all of creation finds its meaning and significance. At the Table, the entire history of the universe is seen in right perspective: created by God, fallen in Adam, redeemed in Christ, and destined for a glorious consummation, the Wedding Supper of Lamb, where God’s people will feast together at God’s Table in eternal joy. This book will help readers better appreciate and cherish the Lord’s Supper as a blessed means of grace; God’s feast whereby he feeds his people with the life-communicating body and blood of Jesus and orients their lives toward Christ’s coming. As Leithart suggests in the introduction, the book’s readings would be put to good use as a part of one’s preparation for communion. Indeed, reading these mediations will certainly whet the appetite for coming to the Table.
Profile Image for Omar.
60 reviews7 followers
October 1, 2012


This is unlike any book on the Lord's Supper that I have previously read. Leithart shows us how the theme of meals thought the Scriptures can actually give us a deeper theology of Communion. He does not deal with any of he debates that surround the Lord's Supper, rather he build for us a beautiful picture of a communal meal that we celebrate today in anticipation of eating it again in his presence. As a result I have found that I am better able to see those same themes on my own as I read the Scriptures myself. This is a very encouraging book.
Profile Image for Garrett.
69 reviews26 followers
September 5, 2013
This would be a great book to pull out every Sunday before celebrating Communion. It is primarily a series of meditations in which the author draws from all over the Scriptures to focus our thoughts as we share the bread and the cup.
107 reviews4 followers
May 27, 2016
A little gem of a book. Ambitious while at the same time being unpretentious. Leithart composes a kind of biblical theology of the Lord's Supper with skill.
Profile Image for Michael Walker.
10 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2022
I technically only got this book to read the last chapter/section entitled “The Way Things Really Ought to Be”. It was worth it.

Here’s a (lengthy) quote from it:

“With the current situation of the American church in mind, we can say that frequent eating and drinking at the Lord's table will inoculate the church against the Gnosticism of modern Christianity (not to mention trendy spiritualisms) that would reduce religion to a private, inner, purely "spiritual" experience; a church whose central religious rite includes baked goods is being trained in proper dominion over creation and will refuse resurgent nature worship in both its religious and political guises; a church that celebrates a feast of wine is being formed into a joyful community that contests the equation of Christian seriousness with prudishness; a church that celebrates the communal meal is bound into one Body and will resist the corrosive individualism of modern culture that has too often invaded the church; a church that shares bread at the Lord's table is learning the virtues of generosity and humility; a church that proclaims the Lord's sacrificial death in the Supper is exercising itself in self-sacrifice and becoming immune to the lure of self-fulfillment. Not automatically, but in the context of biblical teaching and a robust community life, the skills and virtues practiced at the Lord's table will spill over to fill the whole church with a eucharistic ethos. In short, the Supper exercises the church in the protocols of life in the presence of God. The Supper, then, is not "God's flannel graph" so much as "the church's role-play."

It would be as much an error to imply that the Eucharist exists only as grist for a theology of culture as to suggest that it is an icon or a catalyst for individual meditations on the incarnation or crucifixion. The Eucharist is not merely a "sign" to be examined, dissected, and analyzed but a rite whose enactment disciplines the church in the virtues of Christian living and forms the church and thereby molds the world into something more like the kingdom it signifies. As with music or drama, the interpretation of the Eucharist lies chiefly in its performance, and its performance should fill not only the few minutes of worship but all of life. The operative command in connection with the Supper is not "Reflect on this" but "Do this.”

I would recommend this book just to read the end. Beautiful.
123 reviews
November 26, 2024
I listened to this and therefore didn't get go as slowly through each chapter as I could've in print form, but this was still a really helpful book on Communion. It's written in short chapters that don't address the topic head-on like a mechanical research paper, discussing pros and cons of competing views. Instead, it engages with the topic in short stories and metaphors that look at the Supper from different aspects, culminating with an essay that puts it all together. I will be reading it again in print form.
Profile Image for Brandon H..
631 reviews68 followers
October 26, 2021
What a delightful feast! This is a book about the most important meal one can ever eat in this life. The richness and depth of wisdom and insight into the significance of the Lord's Supper are profound and unlike anything, I have ever heard or been taught. I highly recommend it! It will change how you view communion, do communion, and possibly how you live the Christian life itself. 5 Stars!
Profile Image for Michael.
241 reviews
March 13, 2018
Read together with Caroline. Good little meditations on the Lord’s Supper.
Profile Image for Carrie.
528 reviews6 followers
November 18, 2023
Loved the many connections to communion found through out scripture that I would not have seen without Leithart telling me. Very cool. It makes the celebration at the Lord's table bigger and broader.
Profile Image for Shannon Martin.
98 reviews5 followers
March 24, 2024
I listened to the audiobook on Canon Press. Good information, would recommend.
Profile Image for Katrina  Zartman.
127 reviews6 followers
May 9, 2025
Reading a chapter a week. Some chapters are better than others.
891 reviews23 followers
August 14, 2016
This book is not good. I had to read it for a group I'm in. Leithart is not my kind of guy. He refers to gay marriage as a "liberal evil," and in the closing essay he harps on man's (sic) superiority over the rest of nature. For me, when Jesus says "Are you not worth more than a sparrow?" I'm like "NO!" This book is the ultimate in WASPy straight male thoughtlessness. There are some good moments, but he is wedded to an idea of a closed table for a closed people, a church that is separate from the world. NOPE, NOPE, NOPE.
Profile Image for Jonah.
365 reviews1 follower
August 14, 2014
A wonderful book on the Lord's Supper. The Eucharist is much bigger than we assume. The chapters are short and can be read independently form one another, which makes this book useful as a daily devotional. Also, the appendix is worth buying the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.