May 30, 2010
(This post is one of a sporadic series on the Church of England’s Thirty-nine Articles) For some people much of the time, and many people some of the time, the Church often comes across as a “past (and past controversy) preservation society”. This is especially apparent in some of the arguments over justification that seem [...]
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May 18, 2010
Consequently, he that dwelleth not in Christ, and in whom Christ dwelleth not, doubtless neither eateth His flesh [spiritually] nor drinketh His blood [although he may press the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ carnally and visibly with his teeth], but rather doth he eat and drink the sacrament of so great a thing to his own judgment, because he, being unclean, has presumed to come to the sacraments of Christ. … A strong sense of faith in the reality of the Eucharist often does seem to slip over into what would seem to us to be magical views, not simply in the mediaeval period, but in the early period (St Cyprian, in De Lapsis 25,26 offers a notable example), and that can be traced back to this passage of Paul, which has been softened through repeated reading and theological schemes, so that we scarcely notice the implications of his language.
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