Material Eucharist

David Grumett

Surveys and identifies the most important primary liturgical and theological texts (biblical, Patristic, medieval, Reformation, and modern) on Eucharistic materiality
Brings together the most significant research on the Eucharist in liturgical studies and theology
Expands the horizons of Eucharistic theology beyond an ecclesial setting, situating it within the larger created order

Material Eucharist

David Grumett

Description

Material Eucharist interprets the Eucharist through its material elements of bread and wine. Drawing upon a rich variety of biblical, patristic, medieval, and modern texts and traditions, David Grumett brings together theological reflection and liturgical action and shows their mutual dependence. For both theologians and liturgists, a central concern is the matter out of which the created order has been made, from which issues of community and social justice are inseparable. The ingredients of bread and wine anticipate, in their harvesting and manufacture, the formal church liturgy, which is extended back into the world by the transformative priestly action of laypeople. Indeed, the transforming presence of Christ in the Eucharist as flesh and substance is theologically grounded in his transformative presence in the wider created order, as expressed in eucharistic giving and exchange between churches and their wider communities. Rooting the Eucharist in materiality suggests its primary context to be the death and resurrection of Christ in the power of the Spirit, in which its recipients may share. The many aspects of theology and liturgy with which the book deals have large implications for how the Eucharist is understood in a range of academic disciplines, and for how it is celebrated in churches today.

Material Eucharist

David Grumett

Abbreviations
Introduction
1                  Elements:
1.1 Transformations of Nature
1.2 Grain
1.3 Salt
1.4 Olive Oil
1.5 Water
1.6 Leaven
1.7 Baking
1.8 Grape and Vine
1.9 Conclusion
2                  Action:
2.1 Silence and Representation
2.2 On Earth as in Heaven
2.3 Life and Sacrifice
2.4 Communing
2.5 Priesthood, Matter, and Transformation
2.6 Conclusion
3.                  Christ the Bond of Creation:
3.1 The Host as Talisman
3.2 Christ the Preserver
3.3 Christ the Bond of Substance
3.4 The World as Altar
3.5 The Altar, the World, and God s Body
3.6 Conclusion
4.                  Flesh, Substance, and Change:
4.1 Matter and Transformation
4.2 Assimilating Flesh
4.3 The Council of Trent: Tradition and Innovation
4.4 The Eucharist and Aristotle
4.5 Alternatives to Transubstantiation
4.6 Union in the Eucharist and in Christ
4.7 Conclusion
5.                  Death and Resurrection:
5.1 Viaticum
5.2 Eucharistic Burial
5.3 The Dead at the Altar
5.4 Raised by the Spirit
5.5 The Spirit in Recent Eucharistic Prayers
5.6 Conclusion
6.                  Social Bond:
6.1 The Host and the Hearth
6.2 The Fermentum
6.3 Piety and Grace
6.4 Participation and Consumption
6.5 Eulogia
6.6 Bread, Community, and Church
6.7 Conclusion
7.                  The Holy Spirit:
7.1 The Holy Spirit, Baptism, and Eucharist
7.2 Spiritual Ascent
7.3 Ascending and Descending
7.4 Spirit and Matter
7.5 Conclusion
Epilogue
Select Bibliography
Index

Material Eucharist

David Grumett

Author Information

David Grumett, Chancellor's Fellow, University of Edinburgh

Dr David Grumett is Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. His publications include, Theology on the Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet (with Rachel Muers; Routledge, 2010) and De Lubac: A Guide for the Perplexed (T & T Clark, 2007).

Material Eucharist

David Grumett

Reviews and Awards

"A constructive contribution to a theology of the sacrament." - Christopher A. Stephenson, Religious Studies Review

"Material Eucharist will enrich not only the work of scholars of Christian liturgy and sacramental theology, but also those with a more general interest in materiality, and in ritual as a foundational category in human life and society. That Grumett's book both broadens and deepens our sense of this central Christian observance is quite an achievement." - Andrew Davison, Times Literary Supplement

"In this exploration of the material elements of eucharist, Grumett shows the significance of the eucharist for Christian life in the world..." - Ruth A Meyers, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Anglican and Episcopal History

"Material Eucharist is a book worth reading...Its sheer data regarding eucharistic practices is dense, yet will introduce a new world to some readers, as will its deployment of Syrian and Byzantine theology...Grummet is lifting up such sources in service to a eucharistic ontology of considerable beauty and coherence that challenges the worst inclinations of modernity to denigrate and desecrate both creation and humanity." - James Farwell, Virginia Theological Seminary, Anglican Theological Review

"Grumett's text is both thoughtful and thorough. Material Eucharist is an important offering for theologians, pastors, and laity alike. ... there remains something for everyone in their consideration of how the Eucharist may be received, the importance of its creation, its transformation of both individual believers and communities, and the manner in which it may offer a renewed ground for ecumenical discussions." - Sara E. Evans, Reading Religion

"David Grumett focuses his attention, bringing his encyclopaedic knowledge to bear upon the materiality of the Eucharist and drawing widely from different epochs and cultural contexts to write this book of what is styled as 'constructive theology'...huge gains are made by the author's investigation of such diverse sources [...] What this exceptionally erudite book succeeds in doing is to restore the long-neglected category of materiality in our eucharistic thinking and practice." - Christopher Irvine, Canterbury Cathedral, Theology

"Grumett's text is both thoughtful and thorough. Material Eucharist is an important offering for theologians, pastors, and laity alike. ... there remains something for everyone in their consideration of how the Eucharist may be received, the importance of its creation, its transformation of both individual believers and communities, and the manner in which it may offer a renewed ground for ecumenical discussions." - Sara E. Evans, Reading Religion

"[Grumett's] erudite and intriguing work ... plently to sink one's teeth into here." - Mark Smith, Churchman

"Disagreement concerning the Eucharist has been the cause of division, excommunication, and even bloodshed among Christians, and Grumett does not ignore the ugliness of this history. Nevertheless, the book makes a compelling case that Christians can learn how to think about the Eucharist from one another, even if we do not share the same commitments. For this reason, Material Eucharist is a fantastic read for theologians, pastors, and seminarians who wish to further understand the tremendous diversity of practices and beliefs that surround this holy meal." - Andrew Thompson Scales, Homiletic

"[T]his is a book that I judge will be indispensable for all those writing henceforth about Eucharistic theology, both because of what Grumett affirms and for the responses which he evokes. He succeeds triumphantly in showing that the Eucharist is the coming of Christ in embodied form in the embodied lives of those who receive him, drawing them deeper into the whole created world." - Paul Fiddes, Ecclesiology

Material Eucharist

David Grumett

From Our Blog

Agatha Christie at mass

In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, Dame Agatha Christie, the renowned writer of detective fiction, added her name to a protest letter to Pope Paul VI. With over fifty other literary, musical, artistic, and political figures, Christie ' who'd recently celebrated her eightieth birthday ' expressed alarm at the proposed replacement of the old Mass rite, which used Latin and elaborate ritual, with a new rite in English with simpler ceremonial.

Posted on February 1, 2017

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