Eucharist: Christ's Feast with the Church.

He begins with a rapid survey of the emphases of the New Testament on the Euchanst, noting, correctly, that euchanstic imagery suffuses many New Testament pericopes beyond those which provide the narrative of institution at the Last Supper. The middle chapters of the book then speak about the development of eucharistic doctrine in the churches both East and West with a particular focus on the thought of the Reformers. Given the historical complexity of this matter, one should not be surprised that this material is a bit sketchy. It is also not always quite accurate: Stookey somehow thinks that the notion of the Eucharist as sacrifice is explicable only in the context of the application of the sacrifice to the souls in purgatory. This, of course, is quite wide of the mark.

The final chapters offer suggestions for the congregational celebration of the Eucharist. Catholics will soon learn that issues of interest to themselves are also very much a part of Protestant discussions: who may come to Communion (a great ecumenical problem); how those who cannot attend the liturgy may communicate while having some sense of being part of a community (Stookey has some good ideas about commssioning eucharistic ministers); with what degree of formality/informality liturgies should be celebrated.

In an earlier column I reviewed David Power's deeply learned The Eucharistic Mystery (Crossroad, 1993). That is still the work I would recommend on this subject, but Stookey's more pastoral and popular book is worth reading to get a Protestant perspective on the Eucharist and valuable for the deep pastoral sense that it displays.