Corpus Mysticum: The Eucharist and the Church in the Middle Ages

by Henri de Lubac

One of the major figures of 20th century Catholic theology, Henri Cardinal de Lubac SJ was particularly renowned for his attention to the doctrine of the Church and its life within the contemporary world. In this book, de Lubac opens an initial exploration of the Church as made by the Eucharist and gives new expression to that mystery in which the Church is believed to consist. As one whose generous and fervent spirit contributed significantly to the thinking of the Second Vatican Council, de Lubac's influence has been widespread, making a substantial impact also on the development of ecumenical relations between Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologians. With the publication of this English translation of "Corpus Mysticum", this important text of contemporary Catholic ecclesiology and sacramental theology is made available to the Anglophone world and joins the substantial range of de Lubac's works now accessible to scholars.

Genres: Theology, Religion, History

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Henri-Marie de Lubac, SJ (1896-1991) was a French Jesuit priest who became a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. His writings and doctrinal research played a key role in the shaping of the Second Vatican Council.

De Lubac became a faculty member at Catholic Faculties of Theology of Lyons, where he taught history of religions until 1961. His pupils included Jean Daniélou and Hans Urs von Balthasar. De Lubac was created cardinal deacon by Pope John Paul II on February 2, 1983 and received the red biretta and the deaconry of S. Maria in Domnica, February 2, 1983. He died on September 4, 1991, Paris and is buried in a tomb of the Society of Jesus at the Vaugirard cemetery in Paris.

Reviews

[Jacob Aitken]

De Lubac outlines the origins and evolution of the “three-fold Body of Christ,” particularly as its known by the term “corpus mysticum,” the mystical body. It is tempting to read earlier phrases for the church—such as “the body of Christ”—back into the phrase “mystical body,” and define it that way. De Lubac warns against that move, since either the phrase “mystical body” (hereafter MB) is either rare in the Fathers or is not used in the later medieval sense. The threefold body is the Eucharist, the Church, and the historical body born of the Virgin Mary.

The problem with MB is its ambiguity. Pre-9th century writers used it as a helpful way to bring together many of the nuances in Eucharistic theology (de Lubac 79). However, intellectual moves would harden these nuances, place them in opposition with one another, and eventually see a body, or bodies of Christ, different from the one given to us in the Eucharist (162).

The Dialectic Breaks Down
Besides the relative scarcity of the term (MB) in the Fathers and early Middle Ages, it could still work as a Eucharistic term provided it was carefully defined. The problem arose when later theologians read current meanings back into the term. When that happened, the ambiguities in MB hardened into oppositions, and the oppositions broke the synthesis. De Lubac notes in the older sense of the word (mystery, mystical), the word conveys an action (49). The Eucharist brings unity to the church. This is contrasted with later developments: given the truth of Eucharistic realism (which no one would deny), the problem of “real presence” substituted itself for the real action accomplished in the Eucharist (164). No longer was the Eucharist seen as bringing unity to the church and uniting us to Christ, but it was seen as something for itself.

Why did Eucharist Realism bring about this problem? In one sense it did not. Rather, the nature of the terms were newly redefined, and this redefinition forced other equally valid definitions pertaining to the Eucharist into opposition with one another. As a result, theologians found themselves forced to choose between St Augustine and St Ambrose (and the rest of the Greek Church). The later medievals—just like today’s modernists—saw “real” as necessarily opposed to “mystery.” But for the ancients, mystery simply meant “conveyed an act” (49) and revealed the secrets of heaven (41). It did not mean “not-physical” or “not-real,” thus it did not see itself opposed to realism. However, men like Berengar and Ratramnus forced this opposition onto Augustinian texts. Their opponents, while rightly challenging their false doctrine, did not challenge the starting points of their presuppositions.

But what of the ancients that did speak of a “spiritual” body? Much like the word “mystical,” spiritual simply denoted supernatural or miraculous (141).

The End Result
The ambiguities hardened into oppositions, and the oppositions hardened into dialectics. Ancients saw the Eucharist as how the church was brought together into Christ. There could be no separation between the Eucharist, the Church, and the Historical Body for the ancients. But for the later medieval, per de Lubac’s gloss, it was hard to see how the separation would not have happened.

Conclusion
The book is a landmark book. It is a fresh discovery of older Patristic readings that were squeezed out by later Scholastic controversies. While much of de Lubac’s insight into Vatican II proved disastrous for the Catholic Church, one cannot fault his energy and passion for resurrecting the Greek fathers and early Latins, and giving them an equal place at the table. (A valuable project would be to investigate why de Lubac’s patristic project destroyed much of Vatican II liturgy afterwards, yet the Eastern Churches, using the same fathers, did not face that difficulty, at least not as acutely).

The book is not perfect, though. Like many of de Lubac’s books, the reader is usually unsure of de Lubac’s point. De Lubac rarely defines his thesis in clear terms, or if he does, it is only in passing. The book could have been one hundred pages shorter and much clearer had he removed a lot of extraneous material and sharpened his thesis. Secondly, and per the above point, it seems de Lubac’s method is to quote as many ancient texts as possible while avoiding integrating them into his argument. One feels like one is often reading a junior high term paper: the relevant sources are there, but it is difficult to see how they advance the argument. Other than that major problem, this book deserves a wide dissemination.

[Aung Sett Kyaw Min · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring historical detective work. Might be of interest to specialists. I only bothered to pick it up because I was rummaging for potential theological sources on the notion of 'body-politic' in Western political-theology

[Trevor Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more, but to be honest, I could not finish it. De Lubac starts by calling this work "naive" and really most of the book amounts to research notes. Chapters flash by without anything sinking in. Name after name of obscure Medieval theologians are crammed into sentences longer than the Lincoln Tunnel. Occasionally there are nuggets of truth or wisdom that made me pause. I am interested in De Lubac, but perhaps this was not the book to start with. Here are some things that I can definitively take from the book:

1. From the earliest times in Christian history the Church has been linked with the body of Christ.
2. The eucharist is also linked with the body of Christ.
3. By taking the eucharist together the Church is unified (Christified) into the body of Christ, looking more and more like Christ.
4. Christ is present in the eucharist (symbolically/spiritually/physically?). At this point I am more tending to the side of the physical presence of the mystical body of Christ, as per John 6 and other passages in scripture.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rich and complicated account of the development of the "threefold body of Christ" in the medieval period.

[Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is worth keeping in de Lubac's historical accounts of the development of theology (my favorite aspect of doing theology, so to speak) is that in the process of developing doctrines or formulations of truth, there is always something lost. Therefore, we need to pay attention to what fades or else we miss the important things that are part of it.

Corpus Mysticum: The Eucharist and the Church in the Middle Ages shows how de Lubac turned to the theology of the Eucharist, and points out that in the Middle Ages, there is a loss of the sense of the Church as the body of Christ. This resulted in an over-emphasis on the Eucharistic bread and wine, paying less attention to how this body and blood symbolizes and makes the Church, inasmuch as the Church makes and celebrates the Eucharist.

A wonderful read especially for liturgists.

[Brett Salkeld]

The book is long and deals with arcane subject matter in excruciating detail. I loved it. This book is not exactly accesible, but it is difficult to overstate its importance for the subject at hand. 20th Century Christian ecclesiology has been revolutionized by de Lubac's careful analysis of the development of the relationship between the Church and the Eucharist through the Middle Ages. It seems to me that the next question is, "If ecclesiology had to be re-imagined because of its intrinsic relationship to the Eucharist, will we be able to re-imagine Eucharistic theology based on its intrinsic relationship to the Church?"

This book will be an essential resource for anyone pursuing this path. A theological classic.

[ND · Rating 5 out of 5]

For what it is, a study into the specifics of the transference of the phrase "mystical body" from the eucharist to the church in medieval Catholicism, this book is unrivaled. That is, of course, a very narrow subsection of interests, and most theologians would do well to consult a summary of the content of this book. What everyone, especially Protestant readers, needs to engage with directly is de Lubac's conclusion and the following material, effectively an essay for which the historical survey is simply the necessary background information.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plethora of quotes by Patristic, Middle age, and medieval theologians that I've not found in many other places may be worth the price of the book. I felt like the points could have been made in about 150 pages shorter, but it was certainly worth the read in just exposing the reader to new theologians throughout the ages of the church.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A challenging read with lots of historical characters and theological quotes. De Lubac gives us a ton of early medieval quotes that sound very Protestant (Calvin) but then is very dismissive of a rather straightforward reading of their "spiritual" teaching on the Eucharist.

[Tora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the book for an analytical essay. All about the phrase "mystical body" and how it's been used in the Church... am I nerd if I really and truly enjoy this stuff?