When Can We Experience Intimacy with God | Nicholas Wolterstorff
Channel: Henry Center
Date: 09/09/2022

2013 Kantzer Lecture #8 - The Understanding of God Implicit in the Eucharist

In the final Kantzer lecture of the series, Nicholas Wolterstorff turns to conclude his exploration by unpacking the theological implications of the Eucharist for his project. Noting that this is not the place to adjudicate between competing understandings of the act, Wolterstorff selects one account—that of John Calvin—and examines the understanding of God implicit in it. Wolterstorff notes that traditional uses treat the “this is my body” and “this is my blood,” whereas Calvin includes “for you,” and this plays a crucial role in his account. He goes on to explore the force of the copula is, and argues that the concepts of partaking and sealing are central to Calvin’s account. Wolterstorff concludes that the understanding of God implicit in the Eucharist is a uniquely intimate compared with the other areas already explored. It is that “The God of unsurpassable excellence not only stoops down to listen, hear, and speak to us: he stoops down to dwell and work within us in the person of Jesus Christ. In listening and speaking, there is a certain distance between the interlocutors: in communion in the Eucharist, this distance is removed.”

Nicholas Wolterstorff (PhD Harvard University) is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. He is author of many books, including Reason Within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, 1988), Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton University Press, 2008), and United in Love: Reflections on Justice, Art, and Liturgy (Wipf and Stock, 2021).

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