An Incarnational Model of the Eucharist Current Issues in Theology Series

The Eucharist is at the heart of Christian worship and at the heart of the Eucharist are the curious phrases, 'This is my body' and 'This is my blood'. James M. Arcadi offers a constructive proposal for understanding Christ's presence in the Eucharist that draws on contemporary conceptual resources and is faithful to the history of interpretation. He locates his proposal along a spectrum of Eucharistic theories. Arcadi explores the motif of God's presence related to divine omnipresence and special presence in holy places, which undergirds a biblical-theological proposal concerning Christ's presence. Utilizing recent work in speech-act theory, Arcadi probes the acts of consecration and renaming in their biblical and liturgical contexts. A thorough examination of recent work in Christology leads to an action model of the Incarnation that borrows the notion of enabling externalism from philosophy of mind. These threads undergird a model of Christ's presence in the Eucharist.

Preface; 1. Discerning the body of Christ; 2. Known in the breaking of bread: a biblical-theological foundation for the Eucharist; 3. 'Holy to the Lord': speech-acts, consecration, and the divine presence; 4. What's in a (re)name? That which we call bread, by another name would be Christ's body; 5. Christology for the Eucharist; 6. Varieties of Impanation; 7. Sacramental Impanation: an incarnational model of the Eucharist; Epilogue.

James M. Arcadi (Ph.D., University of Bristol) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Analytic Theology Project at Fuller Theological Seminary, California. From 2015–2017 he was a Research Fellow in the Jewish Philosophical Theology project at the Herzl Institute. His articles have appeared in Religious Studies, Topoi, Heythrop Journal, and Philosophy Compass. He is the co-editor for special issues of the journals TheoLogica and Open Theology.