PhD defence Roel Aalbersberg: Why the Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper are no longer meals

The Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper are Christian rituals involving bread and wine. Originally, they took the form of a shared meal, but over time they lost this character. Why did this happen? On Monday 19 October, Roel Aalbersberg will defend his PhD thesis, ‘The Lost Supper: A Study of the Question How, When, Where, and Why the Eucharist Lost its Proper Meal Character’.

The Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper

In Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the Eucharist is the most important sacrament. During the service, the priest blesses bread and wine, and believers hold that these become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Since the Reformation, Protestantism has observed the Lord’s Supper. Protestants may regard the bread and wine as symbols commemorating Christ’s suffering and death, or believe that he is truly or spiritually present in them.

Until the second century, the Eucharist retained the character of a meal. Although Aalbersberg concludes that only the discovery of new sources could answer all questions, he has nonetheless found information that helps us to understand why this change took place.

A changing character

Aalbersberg discusses a passage from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians in the New Testament. It concerns the institution of the Lord’s Supper and, he argues, has been misread for centuries.

In the passage, Paul emphasises the possessive words, Aalbersberg explains: ‘this is my body’, ‘my blood’, ‘in remembrance of me’. He did so, Aalbersberg argues, to rectify abuses surrounding the meal and to make clear that its primary focus was Christ, rather than the Corinthians themselves.

Aalbersberg writes that Paul thereby turned the table, transforming the community meal into a ‘Table of the Lord’. He sees this as the seed for a process of sacralisation, in which the meal is eventually replaced by a symbolic act.

According to Aalbersberg, a second cause of this change was the delayed return of Christ. In the second century, this led to a strong focus on the afterlife among Christians, he explains, combined with a rejection of the world and all its pleasures, including a satisfying meal.

Prior to the defence, Aalbersberg will give a layman’s talk starting at 10:00.