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The Eucharist in Reformation Europe
In Luke 22, Jesus sits amongst his disciples for his last meal. ... The sacrament of the Eucharist was formed to unite Christians together in fellowship, but as Europe changed, the Eucharist began to divide Christians. ... The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, Ulrich Zwingli’s symbolic interpretation of the Eucharist, and the Lutheran interpretation all have several strengths and weaknesses that have been important factors in the evolution of the Church. Arguments surrounding the Eucharist had helped to widen the gap between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformers, and the Eucharist would come to divide Protestant Christians as well.
In order to understand the role of the Eucharist in Reformation theology, we must first understand the traditional Catholic belief. ... This traditional view claims that the accidents of the bread and wine remain intact during the Eucharist (McKenna, 58). ... Aquinas was employed by Urban IV as a writer of prayers and hymns, and in 1264 the pope held a feast in honor of the Eucharist that Aquinas attended (Kenny, 13). Thomas Aquinas argued that the substance of the bread in the Eucharist is changed into the body of Christ. ... Baptism needed to be supplemented by the Eucharist. ... Aquinas introduced Aristotelian causality and the concepts of matter and form into the debate over the Eucharist. ... For them, the power of Christ is not just found in the Eucharist, but in the whole world around us. ... The interpretation downplays the internal aspects of the Eucharist and focuses on the external. ...
As reform movements were growing throughout Europe, the Christian belief of transubstantiation was challenged by major reformers. ... In Zwingli’s opinion, if the scripture is to be taken literally, there is no way that we should not be able to perceive the body in the Eucharist. ... He said, “…the real miracle of the Eucharist is that Christ is present, not that the substance of bread and wine are absent” (189). It seemed to Luther and Zwingli that transubstantiation robbed the Eucharist of its true wonder, that through the sacrament, God enters into communion with Christian brothers. ... That passage lead Zwingli to examine the nature of the Trinity and its role in the Eucharist. ... He felt that the psychological activity of the believers was very important, and this view makes the congregation feel like they are active participants in the Eucharist (Lindberg, 190). Zwingli felt that this is a better situation than the Eucharist bringing Christ to the congregation. ... Zwingli’s doctrine appreciates the voice of others and seems to promote the human agency of the Eucharist. ... Troubled by transubstantiation’s focus on how Christ is present within the Eucharist, Zwingli taught this symbolic interpretation which gained wide appeal. ... He believed that baptism and the Eucharist were the only true sacraments because they were instituted by Jesus (Luther, 366-367). ... Luther argued that the body of Christ had ascended into heaven, so it can not be in the Eucharist. ... The elements of the Eucharist are not what are essential to Luther. ... For Luther, the Eucharist was an offer of the Gospel. ... Only with true faith was the Lord’s Supper complete, but with faith God will come into the Eucharist and share with us true communion. ... In 1525, Zwingli and Luther began to fiercely oppose each other’s ideas concerning the Eucharist (192). ... Zwingli had many problems with Luther’s version of the Eucharist. ... Remember that Zwingli argued that the Eucharist could not be the body of Christ, because Jesus ascended into heaven. ... Luther is pointing out that Zwingli’s view takes away the active role of God in the Eucharist. Zwingli’s approach can make it seem that the Eucharist is unimportant, after all, it is just a symbol. ... The 15 article of faith dealt with the Eucharist (196). The Eucharist was a major point on which these reformers differed from the Holy Roman Catholic Church, but now it had divided the reformers themselves.
Approximate Word count = 3205
Approximate Pages = 12.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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