This book opens by observing that writers on the Eucharist either approach the topic from a theological and dogmatic point of view or from a liturgical angle. The former discuss the meaning of the Eucharist, and the latter its form. This book claims to be the first that combines the two approaches. This, however, it does not do, for the theology and the liturgy are largely dealt with separately in parallel strands rather than interwoven. In order to meet his claim, the author would have had to show more clearly how the theology of the Eucharist grew out of the liturgy in use in different ages or, conversely, how the thought of, say, the Fathers influenced the prayers of the Mass. The book is, therefore, more a history of the Eucharist, as its subtitle suggests. It is, however, a very useful history.
The book builds on a scriptural basis and works methodically through all the main stages of the development of the doctrine of the Eucharist from the Patristic age up to the Reformation. After the Council of Trent the development lies in liturgical reform up to the present time rather than in the theology of the Eucharist, although there is a useful, if short, section on contemporary views about the real presence towards the end. The author confines himself almost wholly to the Western Latin tradition, but refers to Greek Fathers in the patristic section (40 pages long), especially St John Chrysostom. He deals thoroughly with St Ambrose and successfully reconciles the realist and spiritual aspects of St Augustine's thought about the Eucharist. Helmut Hoping seems to move more into his own field with the early middle ages, starting from a lengthy treatment of Paschasius Radbestus up to Lanfranc, but his summary of St Thomas Aquinas, at least on transubstantiation, is not quite so sure, although he writes a pleasing exposition of Aquinas's Pange, lingua.
Thus the excerpts of unqualified praise of the book printed on the back cover should not lead one to think that it is altogether irreproachable. The following points may be noted. Lanfranc used various terms for the change of bread and wine (commutare and convertere); these are translated alike as ‘transform’, which does not convey either. The first term was eventually dropped, the second came to form the tradition leading from Gregory VII to Aquinas and Trent (see p. 192). Some of Hoping's judgments seem too little critical: for example, he surely overestimates the influence of Eucharistic miracles on belief in the real presence in the middle ages, for theology and development of doctrine do not depend on private revelations but may be confirmed by them. He accepts unquestioningly the view that de Lubac shows that the corpus verum meant Christ's body, the Church in the Fathers, and the corpus mysticum meant for them what we mean today by the true Body and Blood of Christ. De Lubac's book Corpus Mysticum does not seem to me to provide substantial patristic evidence for his theory but appeals more to lesser known medieval writers. Discussing transubstantiation in Aquinas, Hoping seems to say that ‘the creaturely being (esse) or the created subsistence (subsistentia) of the bread and wine’ are ‘after the Consecration immediately maintained by the virtus divina of the glorified Lord present in the sacramental sign’ (p. 201). This cannot be right, since after the consecration bread and wine no longer exist as bread and wine because they have been substantially converted into the Body and Blood of Christ. What St Thomas says is that the accidents (or appearances) of bread and wine are held in existence without their proper substance or subject, but this is crucially different from saying that bread and wine remain (cf. ST III q.77 a.1 ad 3). This misunderstanding recurs later in the book: Christ ‘present in bread and wine’ (p. 422) and ‘Bread and wine, however, do not only signify, but truly are Christ's Body and Blood’ (author's italics, p. 425). What does the signifying is not bread and wine, for these are changed in their being, but the appearances of bread and wine.
Hoping is on firmer ground with liturgy. Here he traces in a masterly way the modern liturgical movement, beginning with Dom Beauduin and Pius Parsch, pointing out that the printing of people's missals with parallel translation, first by Schott in German, provided impetus to the call for fuller participation by all the faithful in the Mass. Hoping also notes that the Second Vatican Council did not intend the subsequent root and branch rewriting of the Roman Missal but Sacrosanctum concilium spoke of a renewal (instauratio) of the life of the faithful. He comments fairly that of the four principles of the intended renewal: intelligibility, noble simplicity, active participation, and organic development of tradition, the fourth was too little heeded after the council. Sections of this part of the book are little more than long lists of rules and instructions of numerous motu proprios and documents, all clearly laid out with references and original Latin texts. Hoping favours the view of Benedict XVI that the two present usages, antiquior and modernus, are not to be seen as two rites but as two forms of the one Roman rite. Hoping is always fair in his presenting of the two sides of a controversy, slow to put forward his own favoured view, never assertive but always patiently conciliatory. Even where he does not seem altogether correct, he always supplies the words of the original text, so that one is never misled. Indeed, the wealth of footnotes, not too long but just sufficient is to be highly commended.
The last part of the book contains a balanced discussion of the pro's and con's of the question of ‘poured out for many’ or ‘for all’, still a highly contentious issue in Germany at present, showing that Scripture and tradition never understood the ‘for many’ of Isaiah 53 as ‘for all’. A brief section is devoted to ecumenical issues regarding the churches (or communities) of the Reformation and the Eastern Orthodox churches, once again drawing attention to Ratzinger's writing on the Church and Eucharist as communion. Finally, Hoping provides some personal reflections on the Eucharist as gift, in which he draws on phenomenological views of the real presence and refers to a medley of authors, including Steiner and Weil. This part seems a little at odds with his sympathy for the reintroduction of the older form of Mass by Benedict XVI.
The book appears in a larger and slightly unwieldy edition that departs from the highly attractive neat and compact format that has become the hallmark of books from the Ignatius Press, which have set a standard for printing. It is hardly a book to sit down to and read just for pleasure, but a comprehensive and useful book for the teacher and student. We can be thankful to its author for providing this aid to the study of the Eucharist and the questions surrounding the Mass today.
