New Models for the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the Catholic and Protestant Response

Seminary Room N310

In the face of the challenges that the modern understanding of nature has brought to the doctrine of transubstantiation, several modern and contemporary theologians have advanced alternative models for the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Two of the most famous of these models are: transignification and transfinalization. This paper explores what these new models mean for the Catholic theology of the Eucharist and the Catholic response to them. It will also explore what these models might mean for Protestant theology as a potential point of confluence between the Catholic and the Protestant concepts of the Eucharist.