medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I don't know if this will help you, Phyllis, but I'll try. And I
included a bibliography if you're really interested (maybe for next
summer's class...).
According to the Council of Trent, and consistent with medieval
theologians (though late medieval popular thought and practice seemed
to say a whole lot more):
1. The mass is a true and real sacrifice offered to God.
2. Christ instituted priests to offer his own body and blood.
3. The sacrifice of the mass is a propitiatory sacrifice which profits
all for whom it is offered, and should be offered for the living and
the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions and other necessities.
Luther, by focusing on the Words of Institution (and through a
different understanding of the Letter to the Hebrews), understands the
Lord's Supper to be the memorial of a sacrifice and not a sacrifice.
Luther does talk about the sacrifice of praise, which is our response
of thanks to God for Christ's sacrifice for us.
The Reformed tradition concludes that Christ is not "physically"
present, because otherwise the sacrifice would be happening again.
Luther maintains the real presence, but makes it purely a gift and not
at all a work. The priest is not accomplishing anything. It is God
offering the very body and blood of the Christ to the people, not the
priest offering it to God. What really gets on his nerves is the
prayer asking God that the sacrifice be acceptable/pleasing--how could
Christ himself not be acceptable?
In some respects, the differences are exaggerated by rhetoric and
Luther and Trent can be (ecumenically) understood to be not too far
apart. But Luther's foundations of justification by faith (polemic
against "works") and the priesthood of all believers are both necessary
to make sense of his rejection of the sacrifice of the mass. While
there can be much ecumenical agreement about "sacrifice in the
Eucharist," these two issues still firmly separate Lutherans and
Catholics.
Bibliography:
(As you can see, this was an important issue in the years just
preceding Vatican II among Lutherans, Catholics, and Anglicans. Like
most theological histories, these tend to be either too polemical or
too ecumenical to be perfectly historically accurate, but I think these
are all pretty good.)
Clark, Francis. Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Reformation. London:
Darton, Longman & Todd, 1960.
Kidd, B. J. The Later Medieval Doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
London: SPCK, 1958.
Prenter, Regin. “Eucharistic Sacrifice According to the Lutheran
Tradition.” Theology 67 (1964), pp. 286-295.
Vajta, Vilmos. Luther on Worship: An Interpretation. Ulrich S.
Leupold, tr. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1958.
Wisløff, Carl F. The Gift of Communion: Luther’s Controversy with Rome
on the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Joseph M. Shaw, tr. Minneapolis:
Augsburg Publishing House, 1964.
--Jonathan Hall
University of Virginia
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|