The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let us Keep the Feast (Current Issues in Theology)
"What is needed now is a clear and comprehensive guide to contemporary sacramental and liturgical theology together with some realistic proposals for movement toward mutual recognition. That is precisely what George Hunsinger proposes to provide inThe Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let Us Keep the Feast.And in many significant and persuasive ways he does. This book merits serious attention by scholars and church officials alike.  Hunsinger is a model ecumenical theologian. Some twenty-five years after the World Council of Churches'Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, and after some forty years of very serious dialogue among the churches, Hunsinger has moved the conversation forward significantly. It will be a while before we see another book as good at dealing with these issues, which are vital for the unity of Christians." --Commonweal (3/27/2009)Hunsinger is amazing.  Not only is he a top-notch theologian who finds significant common ground between the Reformed, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodoxy, but he also manages to argue for women's and gay ordination in a logical and level-headed way.  I disagree stridently with him on women's and gay ordination, but he is still a model for peaceful discussion. --Study and Liturgy, September 15, 2009I cannot recommend this book too highly. It demonstrates the possibility of receptive ecumenism.  -- The Rt Revd Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford.   From 1974-1981 he was Co-Secretary of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). --Church Times, June 5, 2009In this elegantly written and well-argued book, Hunsinger addresses each of the areas of contention -- presence, sacrifice, priesthood and social significance -- with clarity and generosity in the hope that we can rediscover the unity that is ours. . . . His ability to understand and use other traditions reveals not only his lightly carried erudition but the generosity that shapes his work. . . . The Eucharist and Ecumenism is a book someone needed to write, but it was not clear that anyone would know how to write it.  Hunsinger shows us that it can be done.  --Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School  --The Christian Century, October 20, 2009The book ends quite literally on a peaceful note. . . .  Hunsinger rescues H. Richard Niebuhr's often maligned Christ and Culture (1951) for subtle use in advocating a "eucharistic transformation of culture" - and gives welcome recognition also to E. L. Mascall's Corpus Christi (1953).  . . .  In his conclusion, Hunsinger sums up his proposals for the three main controverted matters concerning the eucharist . . .  At the theological level he has been quite persuasive.  --Geoffrey Wainwright, Duke Divinity School --International Journal of Systematic Theology, January 2010The great strength of this discussion is that no one Church is exempt from the needful process of self-critique. All in all, a worthwhile study, mature in its point of origin, but comprehensive in its coverage, and challenging in its conclusions.  --Journal of Theological Studies, October, 2009This work is ... likely to be classic and enduring. It is marked by a deeply considered insightfulness, genuine ingenuity, and by a gracious aspiration to understand the very best in each position. --Mark A. McIntosh, Pro Ecclesia, Summer 2010This is a deeply gracious book. As a Roman Catholic ecumenist, I have the greatest of admiration for what Hunsinger has achieved. ... All who long for the unity of the Church are in his debt.--Margaret O'Gara, Pro Ecclesia, Summer 2010The book is theologically deep and historically solid. I will use it with my students, since it is one of the most reliable and thought-provoking studies on the eucharist. --Risto Saarinen, Pro Ecclesia, Summer 2010