Blessed Are the Hungry [Paperback]

Peter J. Leithart (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1885767730 | ISBN-13: 978-1885767738 | Publication Date: December 19, 2000

The Lord's Supper is the world in miniature; it has cosmic significance. Within it we find clues to the meaning of all creation and all history, to the nature of God and the nature of man, to the mystery of the world, which is Christ. It is not confined to the first day, for its power fills seven. Though the table stands at the center, its effects stretch out to the four corners of the earth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Here is both the theology and the practice of the Supper in a most attractive form. -- Robert Rayburn, Faith Presbyterian Church, Tacoma, WA

Peter Leithart has given us fresh reason to "taste and see that the Lord is good." -- Michael Horton, Westminster Theological Seminary

About the Author

Peter Leithart (Ph.D. Cambridge) is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and a Fellow of Theology and Literature at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho. He is the author of The Kingdom and the Power, Brightest Heaven of Invention, Heroes of the City of Man, and A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament. He and his wife Noel have nine children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 186 pages
• Publisher: Canon Press (December 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885767730
• ISBN-13: 978-1885767738
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #956,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars start salivating, July 29, 2003

By 

Mark Horne (Saint Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blessed Are the Hungry (Paperback)

Let's say that you ran into a group of people who had formed a club dedicated to reading and publishing stories about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Then let's say you asked how you would join a member and you were told that if you joined you would have to dedicate yourself to living like a noble person being brave and chivalrous, etc. Furthermore, they insisted on describing the good deeds you would do in this club in terms such as "jousting" and "dragon-slaying."

Now, if you joined that club, and the ceremony involved someone in charge touching your shoulder with a sword, just like men used to become knights in the Middle Ages, you would understand exactly what is going on. Somehow this group is viewing itself as a continuation of the Knights of the Round Table. You would be joining by being "knighted." The ceremony would have meaning from the stories and by means of the ceremony you would be making your own story a continuation of those stories.

Peter Leithart has written the best possible book on Eucharistic theology by refusing to write a book on Eucharistic theology (well, except for the closing essay, "The Way Things Really Ought to Be: Eucharist, Eschatology, and Culture," which is quite good in it's own right). Instead, he has written expositions of the stories in the Bible that involve the centrality of table fellowship with God. To read these sermonic expositions is to have one's "vision" (an overused metaphor according to Leithart) re-focused so that the familiar suddenly seems new. When you participate in the Lord's Supper, you are being fed the fruit of the Tree of Life, participating in the sacrifice of the altar as a priest, entering the land of milk and honey.... it goes on and on.

In other words, by reading this book you will be greatly helped in a process that is often disfigured in modern Evangelical life. Reading some of the many stories of the Bible that describe eating and drinking will immerse you in a new interpretation of what you are doing when you partake of the Lord's Supper. And, conversely, when you participate in the Lord's Supper, you will be continuing in what you have read so that it is reinforced for you as you embody what you have read. The Lord's Supper is truly the application, the sign and seal of the Gospel message. Peter's book shows how, by eating and drinking, you are continuing a culture that once involved Abraham eating and drinking with Melchizedek, Jesus starting a dinner club to which all sorts of undesirables were invited, and Paul publicly rebuking Peter for refusing to eat with uncircumcised Christians.

The final essay deserves special mention. Leithart argues that the emphasis on a "zoom lens" metaphor has deformed discussion of the Lord's Supper. By a "zoom lens" he refers to 1. an emphasis on the elements as "visible words" when the plain emphasis of the Bible is on eating and doing not on seeing, 2. a narrow focus on what happens "in" the elements, and 3. a narrow focus on what happens to an individual participant. Peter offers a "wide-angle" perspective that brings to our attention what happens in the congregation and to the congregation when they participate in the Lord's Supper. That essay alone is worth the price of the book. --Mark

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best little book I've read all year!!!, October 18, 2001

By 

Father Tom (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blessed Are the Hungry (Paperback)

"Years ago I got into the habit of trying to read one book on the topic of the Lord's Supper as part of my preparation for Communion. Since the church I attended at the time only celebrated quarterly it wasn't too difficult to dig up titles on the subject. Anyway, in preparing for Communion I picked up Peter Leithart's 'Blessed are the hungry' which is mostly a collection of 3-5 page meditations. I give the book my highest recommendation. I would not hesitate to put it in the top 10 books I've ever read, not for its profundity, but for its perspective. You might not agree with everything he says, but I doubt that anyone could walk away from reading this little paperback book of meditations without having a perspective adjustment and a greater appreciation for God's revelation of Himself and the means of grace He has blessed."

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for Thought, July 14, 2001

By 

Paul - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blessed Are the Hungry (Paperback)

For those interested in the broader theological implications of the Lord's Supper, Blessed are the Hungry offers a feast of biblical insight. Leithart reminds us of the integral links between word and sacrament, kingdom and sacrament, and covenant and sacrament--links which have been largely ignored or denied among many evangelicals in the 20th and 21st centuries. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to reflect further on the Lord's Supper and the unity of Scripture.