medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I appreciate Thomas Izibick's clarification on the status of transubstantiation as a dogma. His work on canon law concerning the Eucharist is now the classic study.
In answer to David Postles' question, the term "transubstantiation" referred to any of three theories that explained how the change took place. The first, what I have called transmutation,
is what one now thinks of as transubstantiation. The substance of the bread and wine are transformed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ. The second, what is usually called substitution, posits that the substance of the bread and wine are
annihilated and the substance of the body and blood take their place. The third theory, which I have called coexistence, posits that the substance of the bread and wine remain along with the substance of the body and blood. It is similar to, but not quite
the same as the later theory of consubstantiation. All three were considered orthodox interpretations of transubstantiation in the thirteenth century, although theologians bitterly debated the merits of each. By the mid fourteenth century at least, coexistence
had pretty much gone out of favor but the other two theories remained, the Franciscans particularly defending substitution. This debate was one reason Trent trod carefully, as Paul Chandler points out so clearly, in its treatment of transubstantiation.
Theologians debated this stuff; ordinary folk were only required to believe in the real presence. What ordinary Christians did believe about the real presence could get pretty crazy, but that
is a whole other issue.
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