earticle

영어

This research is regarding three theologians who began to argue different voices from the traditional eucharistic interpretation based on an ontological foundation. Christian churches have tried to interpret the words of eucharistic institution by Jesus Christ, "This is my body... This is my blood." through the lens of various methodologies. Since the bread and wine in the eucharistic rite do not change into the real body and blood of Christ, chemically and biologically, the issue of transforming the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ has been understood as symbolic change, not real change but the change of significance, or real accidental change of the elements. The interpretation of eucharistic change had been the primary theological concern in Christian churches since the medieval era. Not only Roman Catholicism but many Protestant traditions had been tried to explain this issue based on the existential understanding of Christ. Alexander Schmemann, Edward Schillebeeckx, and Louis-Marie Chauvet are regarded as the outstanding theological figures who oppose the onto-theological eucharistic change in traditional eucharistic theology. Researching these theologians' academic efforts, I have a chance to arrive at a strong conviction regarding the eucharistic theology for the postmodern era. Eucharist is not the rite for receiving the changed elements that signify the body of Christ, but rather it is the rite for encountering and experiencing God's existential way (love) and for allowing the participants of the rite to perform their ethical responsibilities toward the world.