“Let the little children come”: Liturgical Revision and Paedocommunion in the Christian Reformed Church

This article examines the Lord’s Supper liturgies of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) and inquires into a possible relationship between liturgical changes and the admission of children to the Lord’s Supper. The stern warnings and emphasis on communicants’ understanding of the sacrament in the CRC’s oldest liturgies necessarily excluded children from participating in the sacrament. The 1968 Order for Communion was a milestone in the denomination’s liturgical growth. The absence of a preparatory exhortation and lengthy exposition provide a liturgy which can imagine children participating in the Lord’s Supper. An increasing emphasis on communicants’ communion with one another, evident in the 1981 Service of Word and Sacrament and the formularies adopted by Synods 1994 and 2016 may have helped facilitate the denomination’s acceptance of paedocommunion.

THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE HOLY COMMUNION PRACTICES IN THE CHURCH ERA

The author conducts research on the theological study of the practice of the communion of the church in today's era so that it can find the implications of the meaning in holy communion. The research used is a literature analysis approach that uses various relevant literature sources. The study of Holy Communion reminds us of the importance of fellowship with fellow members of the body of Christ. The Sacrament of Holy Communion has been a part of the life of the Church since the time of the Lord Jesus until now. Until now, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is still an interesting subject. In this discussion, Paul's teachings on the Sacrament of Holy Communion will be described to contribute to the administration of the sacrament. Holy Communion in the Lord's Churches today. Then followed by a reflection for the practice of Holy Communion today: What is the significance of the theological dimension in the practice of Holy Communion today? The hadil of this paper will be produced with practical tips for incorporating and presenting the theological dimension in the practice of the Lord's Supper today.

The Lord’s Supper

Chapter 6 charts the hostility of the Reformed Conformists to the language and liturgical innovations, promoted by some Laudians, that supported the idea that the Eucharist might be understood as a real sacrifice. Drawing particularly on the writings of Williams and Morton, it shows that the Reformed Conformist understanding of Conformity was decisively shaped by their rejection of the Roman Catholic teaching on the sacrifice of the Mass. This rejection informed the Reformed Conformist reading of canon law and inspired their opposition to the erection of altars within English churches. The chapter also returns to Prideaux, whose 1631 Act Lecture on the Mass represented a very public attack on Laudian language and church furnishings at the heart of Laud’s own university.

The extra Calvinisticum from the Marburg Colloquy to the Consensus Tigurinus

This chapter investigates the historical and theological development of the extra Calvinisticum from the Marburg Colloquy (1529) to the Consensus Tigurinus (1549). During this period, the proponents of the emerging Reformed tradition expanded the theological basis for the extra by incorporating additional arguments from Scripture, the church councils, and the church fathers. First, the chapter investigates the debate at the Marburg Colloquy demonstrating that the christological divergence between Zwingli and Luther was rooted not only in theological and hermeneutical method but also in the doctrines of God and anthropology. The chapter analyzes Zwingli’s final works, Fidei Ratio and Fidei Expositio, in which he presents a more robust understanding of the hypostatic union. The final section addresses the Consensus Tigurinus, written by Heinrich Bullinger and John Calvin, which offers the confessionalization of the extra in the Reformed tradition and effectively marks the definitive parting of ways within Protestantism over the Lord’s Supper.

‘This Mystical Blessing’: The Patristic Roots of John Calvin’s Eucharistic Theology

Though committed to the final authority of Scripture in all matters, John Calvin’s Institutes and biblical commentaries show him to be a remarkable student of patristics. His doctrine of the Lord’s Supper was no exception, as Calvin calls upon the likes of Augustine, Chrysostom, Tertullian and others to support his position. This article, therefore, contends that Calvin’s engagement with the Fathers – though imperfect – demonstrates that his view, in essence, may be clearly traced to the patristic period. It also suggests that his reverence for tradition, which he considered consistent with his commitment to sola scriptura, makes Calvin a prime example for contemporary evangelicals as they reflect on their own doctrine of the Supper. Not only would paying close attention to the Fathers enrich their own understanding, but given that such figures are esteemed by the wider church, it may well contribute to a more robust ecumenical conversation around the sacraments.

The Adoption and Use of the Word ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑ in the Early Christ-Movement

This article engages with two recent monographs and three shorter publications to offer a fresh approach to the origin and some aspects of the use of the word ἐκκλησία in the Christ-movement of the first century ce. It argues that the word was first used as a collective designation by mixed groups of Greek-speaking Judean and non-Judean Christ-followers who were persecuted by Paul. Their intimate table-fellowship (especially of the one loaf and one cup of the Lord’s Supper) was regarded as involving or risking idolatry and thus imperilling the ethnic integrity of the Judean people. These Christ-followers adopted the word ἐκκλησία from instances in the Septuagint where it meant not ‘assembly’ but ‘multitude’ or ‘group’, most importantly of all in 1 Sam. 19.20. As Paul founded new communities in the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean that were recognisably similar to Greco-Roman voluntary associations, the word acquired new connotations that reverberated with the role of ἐκκλησίαι as civic voting assemblies in the Greek cities. Paul’s groups were not anti-Roman, nor did he believe that the Christ-movement would replace ethnic Israel, but rather that the two would co-exist until the End. The Pauline view on this matter finds theological endorsement in a 2015 document from the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with Jews.

The Theological Sense of the Polish Antiphons: The Song and the Hymn from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper

The Eucharist, a gift of God’s fatherly love, is the heart of the Church life. It constitutes the most important reality, but also a sacrament of everyday life. Awareness of that great gift leads to a deep need for gaining an insight into the beginnings of the Eucharist—the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The aim of the present article is to investigate the theological content of the antiphons, the song, and the hymn included in the contemporary Polish Roman Missal. The Author will present a theological analysis of the Polish antiphons, the song, and the hymn from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the chronological order of their appearance in the contemporary liturgy. The texts will be subject to historical and linguistic analysis. The texts of the antiphons are rooted in the Bible. For that reason they will be first analyzed from the historical point of view, and then juxtaposed with the version from the Millennium Bible and with the original Greek text, in order to identify differences and analogies between them. Next, the texts will be analyzed from the linguistic and pragmatic perspective. The consideration will end with a short summary of the sources and theological motifs identified in the course of the analysis.