Echoing the Word: The Bible in the eucharist
Paula Gooder and Michael Perham
SPCK £10.99
(978-0-281-06913-2)
Church Times Bookshop £9.90 (Use code
CT639 )
CONTEMPORARY Christian thinking sometimes places "liturgical"
and "biblical" in opposition to each other, as if a choice had to
be made between being a liturgical or a biblical Christian. In just
over 120 pages, Paula Gooder and the Bishop of Gloucester, Michael
Perham, successfully undermine this increasingly popular orthodoxy
by demonstrating that the eucharistic rite of the Church of England
is, and always has been, biblical.
Following the order of Common Worship Order One, this
biblical scholar and liturgist illustrate different ways in which
the Bible is used in liturgical writing: from direct quotations,
such as the Ten Commandments, to allusions to biblical texts, as in
David Frost's use of the parable of the Prodigal Son in his prayer
after communion, "Father of all, we give you thanks and praise . .
.".
Alongside reflection on the use of the Bible, space is devoted
to some recent liturgical history, explaining how a number of
commonly used texts have evolved into the form in which they are
used today. Perham's involvement in crafting Common
Worship makes him ideally placed to tell this story, and he
does so in a way that is fluent and accessible while, at the same
time, revealing more detail than is customary in this sort of
semi-official account.
The identity of those who produce the first drafts of texts that
eventually find their way on to the floor of General Synod is
normally not disclosed; but here Perham reveals some names (James
Jones and Jeremy Haselock in relation to Eucharistic Prayers D and
E, respectively, for example), as well as other contextual
information that enable a richer narrative to be told than can be
found in other liturgical histories to date.
In terms of biblical reflection, some of the most insightful
material can be found in the chapters dealing with the Eucharistic
Prayers, but it is also in this section that a few liturgical
details caused this reader to pause and question. Thanks to the
work of Paul Bradshaw and others, very few liturgical scholars
would now identify the Apostolic Tradition as containing
the "third-century liturgy of St Hippolytus of Rome", and yet this
is stated several times in relation to Prayer B without any
reference to the debate about authorship, and place and date of
composition.
The chapter on the shape of the Eucharistic Prayer is helpful,
but it is surprising not to find the outline of the Eastern shape
set alongside that of the classic Western prayer, and to discover
that Prayers D and H are not mentioned alongside F and G as
following the Eastern pattern.
These criticisms aside, Gooder and Perham have done the Church
of England a very great service in providing such a user-friendly
liturgical handbook. It will challenge all who preside at the
eucharist to find new layers of meaning beneath the texts they use,
and enable those who seek to be fed by word and sacrament to see
clearly that the dichotomy between liturgy and the Bible is
false.
The Revd Dr Simon Jones is Chaplain and Fellow of Merton
College, Oxford, and a member of the Church of England's Liturgical
Commission.