| This thesis examines the political significance that the reception and performance of the eucharist hold for the Christian worshiping community. This study is specifically oriented around three trajectories---past, present, and future---built into motifs common in eucharistic liturgies. The eucharist orients believers toward the past in the remembrance of the suffering of Jesus, toward the present in the unity that the common elements embody, and toward the future in its anticipation of the eschatological messianic banquet. These three trajectories correlate to three attendant social postures. As the church recalls the suffering of Jesus, the church is oriented toward those who likewise suffer in the world today. As the church performs unity around the communion table, it finds itself at odds with secular social structures that offer competing accounts of unity. Finally, as the church anticipates the culmination of the Kingdom of God, it implicitly critiques present earthly power structures. Pastors, theologians, and liturgists are called to be attentive to this dynamic of the eucharist as symbol and praxis of unity, of hope, and of solidarity with those who suffer. |
