Blessed are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper by Peter J. Leithart, 186 pages
Publisher: Canon Press (December 19, 2000), ISBN-10: 1885767730
Rating: 5 STARS of 5
Source: Picked up forever ago at a Classical Christian School teacher's conference
While I was teaching a Survey of the Bible class a few years ago to middle school kids, I used Leithart's Old Testament survey A House for My Name. Out of all the materials I had for the class, that one was probably the best. I was excited to start Blessed are the Hungry last month as my morning devotional book.
Leithart's 28 short essays move you through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation expounding all the way on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. He shows how we start off in Genesis "from the hand of God" not "calculating and measuring" but hungry. And in Revelation, with the promise of finally being filled at the great Wedding Feast, Leithart tells us with every growl of our stomach "we are reminded that we need the world if our life is going to continue, and that ultimately we need Life if our life is going to be sustained."
But the real gem of the whole book is the long closing essay: The Way Things Really Ought to Be. Just those 29 pages are worth the whole book. In it's closing, he says "The Eucharist shapes the church because Christ is present at the meal by his Spirit, and therefore the church is, like the apostles (Acts 4:13), changed by communion with her Husband. The Supper makes the church the church because the communion that takes place at the Supper makes the church like Christ."
Publisher: Canon Press (December 19, 2000), ISBN-10: 1885767730
Rating: 5 STARS of 5
Source: Picked up forever ago at a Classical Christian School teacher's conference
While I was teaching a Survey of the Bible class a few years ago to middle school kids, I used Leithart's Old Testament survey A House for My Name. Out of all the materials I had for the class, that one was probably the best. I was excited to start Blessed are the Hungry last month as my morning devotional book.
Leithart's 28 short essays move you through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation expounding all the way on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. He shows how we start off in Genesis "from the hand of God" not "calculating and measuring" but hungry. And in Revelation, with the promise of finally being filled at the great Wedding Feast, Leithart tells us with every growl of our stomach "we are reminded that we need the world if our life is going to continue, and that ultimately we need Life if our life is going to be sustained."
But the real gem of the whole book is the long closing essay: The Way Things Really Ought to Be. Just those 29 pages are worth the whole book. In it's closing, he says "The Eucharist shapes the church because Christ is present at the meal by his Spirit, and therefore the church is, like the apostles (Acts 4:13), changed by communion with her Husband. The Supper makes the church the church because the communion that takes place at the Supper makes the church like Christ."
Blessed are the Hungry is not a scholarly or academic book. It's a long, slow walk through the pages of Scripture looking for glimpses of the Lord's Supper all along the way. Leithart has written an excellent book and it's great to use as a devotional from one communion Sunday to the next (if your church does communion only one a month.) I'll definitely have this one on my "reread" list.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment