The Body Broken: The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century France

by Christopher Elwood

Overview

In the public religious controversies of sixteenth-century France, no subject received more attention or provoked greater passion that the eucharist. In this study of Reformation theologies of the eucharist, Christopher Elwood contends that the doctrine for which French Protestants argued played a pivotal role in the development of Calvinist revolutionary politics. By focusing on the new understandings of signs and symbols purveyed in Protestant writing on the sacrament of the Lords Supper, Elwood shows how adherents to the Reformation movement came to interpret the nature of power and the relation between society and the sacred in ways that departed radically from the views of their Catholic neighbors. The clash of religious, social, and political ideals focused in interpretations of the sacrament led eventually to political violence that tore France apart in the latter half of the sixteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195121339
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/21/1999
Series:	Oxford Studies in Historical Theology
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

What People are Saying About This

Andrew Pettegree

In a masterpiece of concise exposition, Elwood demonstrates how Calvin's fundamental re-ordering of the sacraments was elaborated and expanded by a tight circle of friends and followers whose writings quickly became normative for French evangelism (Andrew Pettegree is Director, St. Andrews Reformation Studies Institute).

Editorial Reviews

"This theological and sociological study will also be of interest to those concerned with inculturation, communications media and political development."—Worship

"In a masterpiece of concise exposition, Elwood demonstrates how Calvin's fundamental re-ordering of the sacraments was elaborated and expanded by a tight circle of friends and followers whose writings quickly became normative for French evangelism. Closely written and based on a wide-ranging survey of contemporary literature, this work is likely to become the definitive study of a subject of central importance in understanding why evangelical reform in France could not be accomplished without striking at the heart of the established system of belief."—Andrew Pettegree, Director, St. Andrews Reformation Studies Institute.

From the Publisher