The Eucharist goes back to the Last Supper of Jesus with
his disciples. It is based on the prayer of thanksgiving that
Jesus pronounced over the bread and wine at that meal.
"Eucharist" means thanksgiving, praise and blessing.
The Church celebrates the Eucharist as a memorial of the
death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The memorial of the
Eucharist is more than a remembrance of the Last Supper of
Jesus with his disciples. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of our
redemption becomes present sacramentally.
In the past, dogmatic theology has treated the meaning of the
Eucharist while disregarding the form of its liturgical celebration,
whereas liturgical studies have been content with the
latter. Yet the two cannot be separated, however, any more
than liturgy and dogma or pastoral practice and doctrine can.
For the Church’s liturgy is not about something external to
Christian revelation, but rather about "revelation accepted in
faith and prayer" (Joseph Ratzinger).
In this work Helmut Hoping combines the approaches of
dogmatic theology and liturgy while examining the Eucharist
from an historical and systematic perspective. The second
German edition of this major work, which this new English
translation is taken from, was revised and expanded, adding
a comparative analysis of the Second Eucharistic Prayer and
a chapter on the theology of the words of institution.
POINTS OF INTEREST
• A major theological and historical work by a
highly regarded German theologian on the
Eucharist, the “source and summit” of the
Catholic faith
• This work breaks new ground by combining the
approaches of dogmatic theology and liturgy
while examining the Eucharist from an historical
and systematic perspective
• A revised and expanded edition of the original
German edition that drew a wide readership.