This Is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence

by Mark P. Shea

This is My Body is a popular apologetic written in terms engaging and accessible to Evangelical Protestants. Shea treats standard misconceptions and objections to the teaching on the real presence of Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist, showing most to be simple errors in logic or ironic oversights in scriptural exegesis.

Genres: Catholic, Theology

64 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is the Mary, Mother of the Son trilogy (Catholic Answers). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register and his regular feature on InsideCatholic.com. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog. In addition, Mark is Senior Content Editor for CatholicExchange.com. He lives in Washington State with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

Reviews

[Brett Salkeld]

This little work does not claim to be an exhaustive treatment of Eucharistic theology, but rather one Evangelical's journey towards deeper understanding of the Catholic position on Christ's Eucharistic presence. Shea is an engaging writer and often produces turns of phrase both entertaining and informative. He is generally successful in his efforts at differentiating the genuine Catholic position from its caricature in the popular Evangelical mind. Perhaps his greatest achievement is showing that much of the Evangelical position is welcome in Catholic theology and not simply antithetical to it. He does not make the error, common in Catholic apologetics, of treating symbol and reality as mutually exclusive categories.



He does, however, make the occasional theological error. For me the worst of these was an explanation of how the biblical prohibition against drinking blood does not apply to the Eucharist. His suggestion that Christians have no problem eating a juicy red steak easily gives the impression that the sacramental eating of the Eucharist does not differ from natural eating. In so doing he leaves Catholicism wide open to the charge of cannibalism. The fact is that the blood we consume at the Eucharistic banquet is not present in a way analogous to the presence of blood in a steak.



These errors are not overly serious and are fairly rare. They do not make the book too dangerous to recommend.



What would be really interesting to me, as a Catholic theologian, is a review from an ecumenically serious Evangelical. That was Shea's intended audience and, as such, that review would probably be of more value than my own review.

[Stephen Swirsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book is purposefully not an in-depth look into the defenses and arguments for the Eucharist I still found the topics to be very shallow. In my opinion, not enough research or biblical data was brought to the table. Additionally, some statements were just flat out incorrect. A good starting point for some individuals perhaps. There is definitely more to this subject, but it is unfortunately left out.

[Jason Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strong, though very brief, defense of the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist against objections raised by Evangelical Protestants. It is written in Mark Shea's typical engaging style and is very effective for it's purpose. However, it is very focused (and therefore limited) in it's scope and even for its intended audience of Evangelicals open to Catholic apologetic arguments, it is more of an invitation to further study (which is Shea's stated intent) than a definitive apologetic itself.

[nobody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and concise with some nice illustrations. Nothing I hadn't really read before, but someone beginning to search into this issue this book is well suited.