Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer

You know, I bought this book probably 20 years ago. And each time I tried to tackle it, I realized it was far beyond me. Until I tried again 2 months ago, and suddenly the book seemed to come alive, and I was rewarded with 6 weeks of learning from this master's pen. Make no mistake: this is not an easy book. The difficulty is not in the writing or style, but in the density of the writer's knowledge. But it is rewarding in bringing to life the history of the central rite of the catholic faith, the Eucharist, and showing us how that rite has developed into what we are blessed to have today. Fr. Bouyer's primary contribution in this book is showing meticulously how our rite grew forth from the rites of the synagogue and temple in the time before the incarnation. Also invaluable is his demonstrating how the church's western rite is more likely an example of the earliest rites of the church, and that the eastern (Byzantine) rites are more likely examples of a later, more refined theology and praxis.

Like Gregory Dom Dix?s ?Shape of the Liturgy,? Bouyer?s ?Eucharist? was a seminal text in the 1960?s for anyone seeking to understand the Christian cult in its Jewish context. Both books were groundbreaking and, with minor corrections, still should take a prominent place in anyone?s library of liturgical or sacramental studies. As the sample pages show, Bouyer spends the first 119 pages exploring the Jewish context of the Eucharist, bringing to light the concepts of ?berakoth? (liturgical formulae for blessing a meal) and ?tefillah? (other liturgical prayers), which were immediately adopted by the early Jewish Christians. He then goes through the whole of Christian history, East and West, tracing the liturgical and biblical meaning of the shared meal of the faithful. Very exhaustive and well done! You will not go wrong with this one, and the price is a great deal! You may also enjoy ?The Eucharist Makes the Church? by McPartlan, ?Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries? by Elert, and the works of Joachim Jeremias such as ?The Eucharistic Words of Jesus. Enjoy!

I first came across Bouyer's "Eucharist" at Boston College. The excerpts used in class were enough to convince me I had to have this book. Bouyer can flow too much, even in the French original, and this translation has its occasional problems but I'd call this the best work on the Eucharist I've ever read. Gone are the meandering fantasies based on secondary sources and aristotelian metaphysical categories with their host of false problems. Here is the Eucharist at the moment the rich garden of Israel set its perfumed fruit on the altar of the new 'memorial' sacrifice of the God-man. Bouyer writes "There are many theologies on the eucharist. They are practically never the theology of the eucharist . . ." Sound over-the-top? Read it.