Scholarly Reading
7/14/26
Bouyer, Louis. (1968). "Ch. 3: The Word of God and the Berakah." (pp. 29-49). In Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame (Personal Library)
A traditional Jewish prayer is the berakah, which is often translated into Greek as εὐχαριστία, in English, "blessing" (Bouyer 1968, p. 29). Bouyer cites Audet as considering the term "blessing" to have undergone devaluation so that it no longer captures the concept of expressing wonder before God. The expression is that of reverence for the God who has placed his people in a special, covenantal, relationship with himself (Bouyer 1968, p. 30).
In Bouyer's view, "the majority of modern Christians" (Bouyer 1968, p. 31) have stripped away the majesty and supernatural nature of the Word of God, leaving behind "a sort of nondescript hodgepodge from which the professional theologian extracts, like a mineral out of its matrix, small but precious bits of knowledge which it is his job to clarify and systematize" (Bouyer 1968, p. 31). This approach to God's Word would have been quite foreign to first century Jewish thought. Rather, in the past, people understood God's Word as his personal intervention into our lives and culture (Bouyer 1968, pp. 32-33). The very cause of existence is the work of the word of God. The result of this power of God's Word, in Bouyer's view, is that Israelites would recognize God working in a personal and practical way to deliver his gifts to people (Bouyer 1968, p. 35).
Bouyer concludes that within Hebraic thought God pours out gifts, including righteousness, upon His people. The goal is that eventually they come to know Him even as He has known them (Bouyer 1968, p. 37). This is not an intellectual assent, but something which is somehow deeper. God himself is delivered and applied to His people through his word (Bouyer 1968, p. 38).
The liturgical prayers, then, the Berakoth, are seen as the human response to God's self-revelation in his Word (Bouyer 1968, p. 40). The prayers of the liturgy, as with the Psalms, intend to form people who know God as they have been known by God. Bouyer illustrates this process using a number of prayers of thanksgiving found in the Old Testament. The ultimate thrust of the process, in Bouyer's view, is an internalization of the nature of God and particularly the implications of sacrificial worship (Bouyer 1968, p. 46). It is all about God's exercise of initiative and our reception of His work.
7/14/26
Bouyer, Louis. (1968). "Ch. 3: The Word of God and the Berakah." (pp. 29-49). In Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame (Personal Library)
A traditional Jewish prayer is the berakah, which is often translated into Greek as εὐχαριστία, in English, "blessing" (Bouyer 1968, p. 29). Bouyer cites Audet as considering the term "blessing" to have undergone devaluation so that it no longer captures the concept of expressing wonder before God. The expression is that of reverence for the God who has placed his people in a special, covenantal, relationship with himself (Bouyer 1968, p. 30).
In Bouyer's view, "the majority of modern Christians" (Bouyer 1968, p. 31) have stripped away the majesty and supernatural nature of the Word of God, leaving behind "a sort of nondescript hodgepodge from which the professional theologian extracts, like a mineral out of its matrix, small but precious bits of knowledge which it is his job to clarify and systematize" (Bouyer 1968, p. 31). This approach to God's Word would have been quite foreign to first century Jewish thought. Rather, in the past, people understood God's Word as his personal intervention into our lives and culture (Bouyer 1968, pp. 32-33). The very cause of existence is the work of the word of God. The result of this power of God's Word, in Bouyer's view, is that Israelites would recognize God working in a personal and practical way to deliver his gifts to people (Bouyer 1968, p. 35).
Bouyer concludes that within Hebraic thought God pours out gifts, including righteousness, upon His people. The goal is that eventually they come to know Him even as He has known them (Bouyer 1968, p. 37). This is not an intellectual assent, but something which is somehow deeper. God himself is delivered and applied to His people through his word (Bouyer 1968, p. 38).
The liturgical prayers, then, the Berakoth, are seen as the human response to God's self-revelation in his Word (Bouyer 1968, p. 40). The prayers of the liturgy, as with the Psalms, intend to form people who know God as they have been known by God. Bouyer illustrates this process using a number of prayers of thanksgiving found in the Old Testament. The ultimate thrust of the process, in Bouyer's view, is an internalization of the nature of God and particularly the implications of sacrificial worship (Bouyer 1968, p. 46). It is all about God's exercise of initiative and our reception of His work.
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