Sacrament Of Salvation - AN Introduction To Eucharistic Ecclesiology (Paperback)

Using the Eucharist as an interpretative key, Paul McPartlan surveys the entire sweep of Church history, from its roots in the Old Testament through the foundation and unfolding of the Church over the last two millennia. This century's great renewal is examined through the eyes of Henri de Lubac, who reintroduced the idea of the Church herself as the great Sacrament 'which contains and vitalises all the others'. This is an understanding profoundly traditional but at the same time capable of generating consequences of extraordinary power and originality. The book makes significant contributions to contemporary thinking on ecumenism, evangelisation and ecology. Concern for unity with other churches arises from the recognition of a common Christian mission to the whole of humanity - and furthermore to all creation. How the ecumenical movement has reflected upon the Church is examined here, in connection with major ecumenical statements on the Eucharist.