The Eucharist is an important part of the Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions. Although the topic and much of the performance associated with the Eucharist is uniform across Christian traditions, the way in which each branch understands the ritual practice of the Eucharist is unique. The Eucharist is an important aspect of the Christianity that incorporates the ritual, social and mythological dimensions in giving meaning to the suffering of Christ and the unity of those who believe in the crucifixion story.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are well known stories within the Christian tradition throughout much of western civilization; the stories are used to explain how humanity’s sin is forgiven through Christ’s suffering. The crucifixion story is an …show more content…
The experiential dimension is the realization of the hopes of most practitioners of traditions. A clear example of this dimension is that of the Eucharist in the Catholic tradition. The sacrifice taking place in the ritual is a “re-entering” of the act of Christ sacrifice, which Catholics understand in a literal sense (Lecture, 04Nov2014). Other denominations of Christians are not able to take part in the experiential dimension during the Eucharist in a similar fashion; however, they come to experience the divine in other manners. Pentecostals believe in “speaking in tongues” which is a direct or immediate form of experience with the divine (Oxtoby/Segal pg 191).The Eucharist is one of the best examples of how many dimensions of religion blend to form the explanation of what religion is as well as how to define different aspects of the whole. The Eucharist itself is a way to understand the Christian religion’s unifying belief the Christ and his sacrifice for the sake of
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are well known stories within the Christian tradition throughout much of western civilization; the stories are used to explain how humanity’s sin is forgiven through Christ’s suffering. The crucifixion story is an …show more content…
The experiential dimension is the realization of the hopes of most practitioners of traditions. A clear example of this dimension is that of the Eucharist in the Catholic tradition. The sacrifice taking place in the ritual is a “re-entering” of the act of Christ sacrifice, which Catholics understand in a literal sense (Lecture, 04Nov2014). Other denominations of Christians are not able to take part in the experiential dimension during the Eucharist in a similar fashion; however, they come to experience the divine in other manners. Pentecostals believe in “speaking in tongues” which is a direct or immediate form of experience with the divine (Oxtoby/Segal pg 191).The Eucharist is one of the best examples of how many dimensions of religion blend to form the explanation of what religion is as well as how to define different aspects of the whole. The Eucharist itself is a way to understand the Christian religion’s unifying belief the Christ and his sacrifice for the sake of