The moment in which the Eucharistic gifts of bread and wine become the consecrated body and blood of Christ has long been a point of contention between the Churches of the East and West. John McKenna seeks to offer a separate approach to this issue by exploring the role of the epiclesis throughout history and proposing a theology that focuses on the efficacy of the entire Eucharistic prayer.

The Eucharistic Epiclesis includes:

Part I: The Historical Heritage

Chapter 1: The Epiclesis in Early Liturgical Texts as a Basis of Interpretation

•  Possible Forerunners of the Developed Epiclesis
• The Epiclesis in the Early Anaphoras 

Chapter 2: The Epiclesis and the "Moment of Consecration" Problem: A Brief History

• The Epilcesis in Patristic Writings
• The Emergence of the Problem of the "Moment of Consecration"

Part II: The Interpretations of the 20th Century Liturgists and Theologians: The Epiclesis in the Shadow of the "Moment of Consecration" Problem

Chapter 3: Understanding of the Terminology of the 20th Century Writers

• Primitive Meaning of the Word "Epiclesis" in 20th Century Writings
• 20th Century Descriptions of the Developed Epiclesis

Chapter 4: Reconstructions of the History of the Eucharistic Epiclesis

• From Logos to Spirit Epiclesis
• From Sanctification to Consecratory Epiclesis
• From EPICLESIS to "Epiclesis"
• From Appeal for Unity to Epiclesis Proper

Chapter 5: Theological Explanations of the Eucharistic Epiclesis

• Epiclesis as a Consecration Formula
• Epiclesis: Expression of the Church's Consecratory Intention
• Epiclesis within the Framework of a Consecratory EPICLESIS
• Epiclesis as Realizing the Sacremantum
• Epiclesis: Bond between "Consecration" and Communion
• Epiclesis: Appeal for Unity
• Epiclesis: Phenomenon of Liturgical Language

 Chapter 6: The Epiclesis and the Structure of the Sacraments

• The Epiclesis and the "Substantia Sacramenti"
• The Epiclesis and the Praying, Believing Assembly
• The Epiclesis and the Holy Spirit

Part III: Synthesis

Chapter 7:  The Epiclesis and the "Moment of Consecration" Problem Reexamined

• Within a Scholastic Framework
• Within a Personalistic Framework
• Implications of a Personalistic Approach for Epiclesis

Chapter 8: The Epiclesis and the Realization of the Eucharist

• The Epiclesis and the Praying, Believing Assembly
• The Epiclesis and the Holy Spirit
• Is the Epiclesis Proper Necessary?

This title is part of the Hillenbrand Books imprint, Classics series.

See What People are Saying about The Eucharistic Epiclesis:

"Some issues in the history of theology never go away. John McKenna's 1975 book, Eucharist and the Holy Spirit, of which the present update is more precisely entitled, The Eucharistic Epiclesis: A Detailed History from the Partistic to the Modern Era, tackles one such intractable problem. Along with Edward Schillebeeckx's 1963, Christ, the Sacrament of Encounter with God, McKenna's study remains one of the most important liturgical publications in English to emerge from that heady, immediate post-Vatican II fallout that changed sacramental theology for the better and--dare we hope?--forever.

McKenna's deceptively simple discourse and clear language, like that of Schillebeeckx, results from the clarity, not the simplicity, of his thinking on a still disputed and more often than not misunderstood topic in eucharistic and ecumenical theology: in the Eucharist, who offers what to whom, when, and how?  Every professor of liturgical and ecumenical theology should have this book in his or her library."
 
Robert F. Taft, S.J.
Professor Emeritus of Oriental Liturgy
Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome

307 pages, 15 x 23 cm, paperback, Liturgy Training Publications

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