Eucharist: Christ's Feast With The Church

Plot

1. Central Meanings Behind the Meal. Creation as Divine Communication. Covenantal Initiation and Interaction. Christ at Center. The Church: At Once Inadequate and Aspiring. The Coming Kingdom -- 2. Key Biblical Understandings of the Eucharist. Paul's Instruction to the Corinthians. The Suppers in the Synoptics. The Eucharist in the Fourth Gospel. Feasting in Heaven -- 3. Faith Seeking Understanding. Eucharistic Presence as Explained by Platonism. Eucharistic Presence as Explained by Aristotelianism. The Nominalist Challenge to the Status Quo. Luther: Ubiquitous Presence. Zwingli: Memorialism. Calvin: Virtualism. Reformation Interaction and Continuing Issues -- 4. From Age to Age. The Testimonies of Justin Martyr and Hippolytus. The Changing Scene in the Early Centuries. The Middle Ages. The Reaction of the Reformers. After the Reformers. Contemporary Reconsideration -- 5. Toward a Renewal of Eucharistic Understanding. Components of a Renewed Eucharistic Theology. Eucharistic Reorientation Through Teaching and Preaching -- 6. Conducting the Eucharist. Context. The Rite. The Action. The Elements. The Furnishings. The People -- 7. "That My House May Be Filled" Filling God's House Congregationally. Filling God's House Ecumenically. Filling God's House Evangelically -- Appendix 1: Extending the Eucharist to the Unwillingly Absent -- Appendix 2: The Eucharist in Methodism.