I believe in "the holy catholic Church" as the Apostle's Creed puts it. Thus, I'm part of the catholic, universal Church but not a Roman Catholic. I'm not pro-Catholic but not anti-Catholic either. I believe they are among the most committed and sincere Christians I ever met. There are many strengths and weaknesses in each true Christian denomination but the beauty of Catholicism, to me, is their rich traditions and reverence for the Eucharist or the Holy Communion.
Basically, there are four (4) views about the Eucharist (Greek: eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving): 1) Consubstantiation. According to this view, the bread and wine maintain their physical identities and the real presence of Christ’s body and blood co-exist with these elements during communion; 2) Memorialism. This view suggested that the bread and wine are merely symbols of the body and blood, designed to commemorate His death and resurrection; 3) Reformed. This view - hybrid from the first two - recognized the spiritual presence of Christ in the elements as well as the commemorative purpose of the sacrament.
But the fourth view, offered by the Roman Catholic, is 4) Transubstantiation. It simply means that the bread and wine during communion literally transform into the body and blood of Christ. The appearances of bread and wine remain the same but Christ is present as substance. In this regard, I think the Catholics read the Scripture more literally than many others (not necessarily the correct way, depending on the context). And this is what Dr. Brant Pitre labor to explain in this wonderful book. He examines the Old Testament and ancient Judaism on the words and deeds of Jesus to reveal the amazingly Jewish roots of the Eucharist. He explains skillfully the New Exodus, the Eucharist as the New Passover, the New Manna from Heaven, and the mysterious New ‘Bread of the Presence' in the Tabernacle and Temple of God. To me, this book is the most convicting argument for the transubstantiation view so far. Love it!
#ServeToLead #LeadersAreReaders #RomanCatholic #TheEucharist #JewishRoot #BrantPitre #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain
To read my other book reviews/summaries, CLICK HERE
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
No comments:
Post a Comment