The Eucharist in Bible and Liturgy

The book will be of interest to ministers of religion and students of theology.

G. D. Kilpatrick (Author)

9780521097208, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 November 2008

128 pages
21.6 x 14 x 0.7 cm, 0.17 kg

This book is concerned with the central act of Christian worship, call it Eucharist, Holy Communion, Liturgy, Last Supper or Mass. First it investigates in some detail the New Testament accounts of its institution at the Last Supper, dealing with the problems of scholarship involved. Professor Kilpatrick argues that Mark XIV and I Corinthians XI are basic, Mark being more archaic. Secondly, the book examines three themes of the Eucharist which are foreign to Western thinking of today: sacrifice, the sacred meal and the pattern of charter story and ritual. This pattern is common ground to anthropologists and biblical scholars. It is argued that the observance is not a Passover but a sacrifice in Biblical terms and certain features which we find in Biblical sacrifice have parallels in the religion of ancient Rome and Greece. The bearing of these conclusions on present-day liturgical revision is then discussed.

Preface
Lecture I: The background
Lecture II. The New Testament accounts
Lecture III. The New Testament accounts
Lecture IV. The nature of the Eucharist
Lecture V. The nature of the Eucharist
Lecture VI. The nature of the Eucharist
Lecture VII. The inheritance of the Eucharist and today
Lecture VIII. Conclusion
Appendix
Index of Biblical references.

Subject Areas: Christian liturgy, prayerbooks & hymnals [HRCL], Christianity [HRC]