'The marvellous work of God is in the feeding': Cranmer's 'Answer to Gardiner' and the wonder of the Sacrament

As Cranmer, in his Answer to Gardiner (1553), reviews his opponent's critique of his eucharistic theology, he turns to what is perhaps the heart of that critique - that Cranmer denies the mystery of the Sacrament, reducing it to an empty ceremony:

But if it may now be thought seemly for us to be so bold, in so high a mystery to begin to discuss Christ's intent; what should move us to think, that Christ would use so many words, without effectual and real signification, as he rehearsed touching the mystery of this sacrament?

The nature of Cranmer's rebuttal of this accusation is significant. He invokes a series of patristic comments affirming that the Lord termed the bread and wine of the Sacrament His Body and Blood:

I have alleged Irene saying that "Christ confessed bread be his body, and the cup to be his blood." I have cited Tertullian, who saith, in many places, that "Christ called bread his body." I have brought in for the same purpose Cyprian, who saith, that "Christ called such bread as is made of many corns joined together, his body: and such wine he named his blood, as is pressed out of many grapes." I have written the words of Epiphanius, that "Christ speaking of a loaf, which is round in fashion, and can neither see, hear, nor feel, said of it, This is my body." And St. Hierom writing Ad Hedibiam saith, that "Christ called the bread which he brake, his body." And St. Augustine saith, that "Jesus called meat his body, and drink his blood " And Cyril saith more plainly, that "Christ called the pieces of bread his body." And last of all I brought forth Theodorete, whose saying is this, that "when Christ gave the holy mysteries he called bread his body, and the cup mixed with wine and water, he called his blood." All these authors I alleged, to prove that Christ called bread his body, and wine his blood.

This, Cranmer goes on to say, is "the true confession and belief of the universal Church from the beginning". He stands, therefore, with the patristic witnesses, declaring with them that the Lord calls "bread his body, and wine his blood".

Is this, however, merely a clever debating point? The Fathers may declare that the Lord calls the bread and wine His Body and Blood, but does Cranmer believe that the faithful partake of that Body and Blood in the holy Sacrament? Cranmer here provides a quite wonderful declaration that, after the patristic witnesses, there is a true feeding on the Lord in the Sacrament:

Where you speak of the miraculous working of Christ, to make bread his body, you must first learn, that the bread works is not made really Christ's body, nor the wine his blood, sacramentally. And the miraculous working is not in the bread, but in them that duly eat the bread, and drink that drink. For the marvellous work of God is in the feeding, and it is Christian people that be fed, and not the bread.

In other words, against Gardiner's insistence of a "miraculous working" changing the bread and wine, Cranmer points to a greater, more substantive miracle: "the marvellous work of God is in the feeding". There is, yes, a change in the bread and wine: they become "sacramentally" Christ's Body and Blood - that is, the sign, assurance, and promise to us that we feed on Christ in these Mysteries. And this is the "miraculous working of Christ", that we truly feed on the Lord in what Cranmer terms "this holy sacrament of Christ's body and blood".

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

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