Scholarly Reflections
Mazza, Enrico. "Chapter One: Introduction." The Celebration of the Eucharist: The Origin of the Rite and the Development of Its Interpretation. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press/Pueblo, 1999, 1-8.
Mazza briefly reviews scholarship pertaining to the eucharist since the publication of Dix' The Shape of the Liturgy in 1945. Study has made significant advances, but Mazza considers too much to be contained in academic journals of limited circulation (Mazza 1999, 2). Methods of study which have proven fruitful include attempts to understand the eucharist as rooted in Jewish liturgical sources.
Mazza, in this work, attempts to write an historical manual on eucharistic practice, rather than a series of topical articles which follow no consistent overall goal (Mazza 1999, 2). He intentionally uses a theological method of analysis, which he distinguishes from a philological or historical approach. The emphases, in order, are on the nature of the Sacrament, the relationship between eucharist and sacrifice, and a spiritual discussion of "fruitful reception of the Sacrament" (Mazza 1999, 3). Mazza discusses in some detail how this approach differs in its structure from much of twentieth century analysis, which is more dependent on historical criticism or topics which have been removed from their context.
As he develops his analysis, Mazza will deal with an understanding of the eucharist as a sacrifice and as bearing the real presence of Christ (Mazza 1999, 7). The two concepts can be seen as related and complementary to one another.