This is a fine example of exactly why I
enjoy being part of the Alcuin Club. This book, published as the
club's annual “Collection”, takes you deeper into a topic which
the “causal” reader rarely gets the opportunity to explore.
The Eucharistic Epicleses became a
point of controversy during the Reformation and a point of ecumenical
consensus during the twentieth century (at least in terms of its
text, if not always its actual meaning). Therefore its exploration is
informative of much wider dynamics than its few lines of prayer might
at first suggest.
The review of the “Ancient”
Epicleses once again reveals that the Liturgical Reform of the
twentieth century was not based of such firm foundations as the
reformers believed. The appeal to an early and universal Eucharistic
prayer from which later practice diverged is now seen as invalid. It
is now accepted that this “first” prayer is unlikely to have ever
existed – in fact the movement of the church has generally been
from diversity in liturgy toward uniformity rather than the other way
around.
The review of the “Modern” shows
that while during the later half of the twentieth century there was
wide spread adoption of “ecumenical” texts and borrowing of texts
form denomination to denomination, the use of common words masks the
continuing divergence of belief. We use the same words to say very
different things about the church, the Eucharist, God, and the
Spirit. Some may see this with sadness – but for me that is OK.
The worry is not that we believe different things but in fact we too
often fool ourselves into thinking we believe the same things when we
don't. This pretence is disrespectful, to ourselves and to one
another. We should be big enough to embrace one another as fellow
disciples in the acknowledgement of our difference, rather than
insist on being shoe-horned into a common “truths” we do not own.
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