Scholarly Reading
7/9/26
Bouyer, Louis. (1968). "Ch. 2: Jewish Liturgy and Christian Liturgy." (pp. 15-28). In Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame (Personal Library)
The eucharist was not invented out of thin air by the earliest Christians. Bouyer considers it essential to understanding of the Christian anaphora that we consider the sources and ideas from which it sprang (Bouyer 1968, p. 15). The Old Testament and Judaic practices were integral to the growth of Christian tradition (Bouyer 1968, p. 16). Yet Bouyer contends that many scholars seem to believe that Christianity was born from a vacuum, or, more often, from regional pagan antecedents.
As regards scholarly work on early Christianity, Bouyer shows his strong anti-Protestant bias. "Our critical knowledge of the origins of Christianity first of all remains too dependent upon the work of Protestants and consequently reflects a basic Protestant prejudice: far from completing Scripture, tradition could only be a degradation and a corruption of it" (Bouyer 1968, p. 18). He proceeds to allege a difficulty on the part of non-Roman Catholic scholars in accepting that traditions emerge from reasoned practice in accord with Scripture. He sees this as an especially persistent problem in dealing with the Old Testament. In a positive direction, Bouyer urges what I have long considered indispensable. In our exegesis we must assume that God's Word and Spirit has worked in and through many, though not all, of the ancient communities where it was proclaimed (Bouyer 1968, pp. 20-21).
Having discussed the vitality of Judaic thought, Bouyer turns his attention to the specific instance of the roots of the eucharistic prayer found in Judaism (Bouyer 1968, p. 22). While Bouyer grants that we have no manuscript evidence of the practice of a seder meal prior to the ninth century, he considers it reasonable to trust the tradition as generally accurate, in similar ways to our trust in the reliability of ancient Greek and Roman cultural information (Bouyer 1968, p. 23). The prayers found in the seder, largely unchanged to this day, show signs of going back to synagogue practice at the time of the origin of Christianity (Bouyer 1968, p. 24).
Not only prayers, but also traditional readings (Bouyer 1968, p. 25) and even architecture (Bouyer 1968, p. 26) show signs of being adopted into Christianity from Judaism. Bouyer contends that recognition of these elements is important to Christian liturgical expression.
7/9/26
Bouyer, Louis. (1968). "Ch. 2: Jewish Liturgy and Christian Liturgy." (pp. 15-28). In Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame (Personal Library)
The eucharist was not invented out of thin air by the earliest Christians. Bouyer considers it essential to understanding of the Christian anaphora that we consider the sources and ideas from which it sprang (Bouyer 1968, p. 15). The Old Testament and Judaic practices were integral to the growth of Christian tradition (Bouyer 1968, p. 16). Yet Bouyer contends that many scholars seem to believe that Christianity was born from a vacuum, or, more often, from regional pagan antecedents.
As regards scholarly work on early Christianity, Bouyer shows his strong anti-Protestant bias. "Our critical knowledge of the origins of Christianity first of all remains too dependent upon the work of Protestants and consequently reflects a basic Protestant prejudice: far from completing Scripture, tradition could only be a degradation and a corruption of it" (Bouyer 1968, p. 18). He proceeds to allege a difficulty on the part of non-Roman Catholic scholars in accepting that traditions emerge from reasoned practice in accord with Scripture. He sees this as an especially persistent problem in dealing with the Old Testament. In a positive direction, Bouyer urges what I have long considered indispensable. In our exegesis we must assume that God's Word and Spirit has worked in and through many, though not all, of the ancient communities where it was proclaimed (Bouyer 1968, pp. 20-21).
Having discussed the vitality of Judaic thought, Bouyer turns his attention to the specific instance of the roots of the eucharistic prayer found in Judaism (Bouyer 1968, p. 22). While Bouyer grants that we have no manuscript evidence of the practice of a seder meal prior to the ninth century, he considers it reasonable to trust the tradition as generally accurate, in similar ways to our trust in the reliability of ancient Greek and Roman cultural information (Bouyer 1968, p. 23). The prayers found in the seder, largely unchanged to this day, show signs of going back to synagogue practice at the time of the origin of Christianity (Bouyer 1968, p. 24).
Not only prayers, but also traditional readings (Bouyer 1968, p. 25) and even architecture (Bouyer 1968, p. 26) show signs of being adopted into Christianity from Judaism. Bouyer contends that recognition of these elements is important to Christian liturgical expression.
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