Anglican Eucharistic Theology - Varieties of Eucharistic Theology

Varieties of Eucharistic Theology

Anglican incarnational theology emphasizes the importance of God using the mundane and temporal as a means of giving people the transcendent and eternal. For many who hold such a view, they consider the manifestation of Christ in the eucharistic elements to belong to the realm of spirit and eternity, and not to be about Christ's corporeal presence. This "middle view" does not necessarily negate memorialist and transubstantiationist views, but instead allows for a comprehensive range of perspectives and for an emphasis on the fundamental mystery of how Christ is present. This respect for the mystery of the Real Presence is reflected in the aphorism attributed by some to John Donne, by others to Elizabeth I: "He was the Word that spake it; He took the bread and brake it; And what that Word did make it, I do believe and take it" without any further explicit detail. Indeed, the Catechism of 1604 states the belief in a non-defined Real Presence:

Question. What is the outward part or signe of the Lords Supper?

Answer. Bread and wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received.

Question. What is the inward part or thing signified?

Answer. The Body and Blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received of the faithful in the Lords Supper."