Affirming Catholicism
1 total work
Much of the sacramental worship of the Western church is predicated on the assumptions (formed mainly in the last fifty years but linked with the theology of the early church) that the Eucharist is best understood as a communal meal and that God's presence is therefore best apprehended in the gathered community. The theology of Eucharistic sacrifice has been increasingly marginalized. The architectural ideal expression of these assumptions is a centralized communal space, with the altar in the midst of the people. A rigid adherence to these principles has had a drastic architectural and aesthetic impact on ancient churches, which were shaped by other theological assumptions. Margaret Barker, in her works on 'temple theology', has challenged the assumption that the early church understood the Last Supper as a Passover meal. Early Christians expressed their faith in terms of the Temple of Solomon and Jesus in his crucifixion as the eternal High Priest offering the once for all Atonement sacrifice. The structure and theology of the temple is inherent in the faith and worship of the early church, as indeed it has remained in the theology and worship of the Orthodox churches. The historic form of the Christian church building, with its orientation, its altar, its screens, its wealth of symbolism and imagery, was conceived as the new temple of the new covenant. At a time when the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches are rediscovering their older liturgical traditions, the appropriation of temple theology could help foster a richer Eucharistic theology which embraces both community and sacrifice, could renew the understanding and use of ancient church buildings and inform the use of their modern successors.