The Protestant Quest for a Meaning of the Eucharist: A Comparative Theological Analysis of the Theology of the Eucharist in Lutheran, Anglican and Russian Baptist Traditions

Abstract

This article is intended to provide an adequate analytical description of the theology of the Eucharist as it is formulated and understood within three Protestant theological traditions: Lutheran, Anglican and Russian Baptist. The fundamental presup
position of this research is that the hospitality between various Protestant churches is impossible without a theological comprehension of the key similarities as well as dissimilarities in their interpretations of classic Christian doctrines. This paper attempts to produce such an investigation in the case of the doctrine of the Eucharist. Here three confessional theologies of the Eucharist are examined, each in its turn according to the ‘dogmatic’ approach, that is, a study of the official doctrinal documents of the three denominations, and the ‘key theologians’ approach, that is, an in quiry into the opinions of several thinkers determinative to the respective traditions. After a short review of the Biblical roots and the preReformation historical developments in the theological interpretation of the Eucharist, the author focuses the next sections of the article specifically on the exploration of Lutheran, Anglican and Russian Baptist ways of looking at the Lord’s Supper. Then, the key differences and fundamental commonalities of the three Eucharistic traditions are highlight ed and concluding statements about the need for a reappreciation of different aspects of the Eucharistic theology are made.