The Eucharistic Spirit: A Renewal Theology of the Lord's Supper (Word & Spirit) - (Florian M. P. Simatupang) - Review
THE EUCHARISTIC SPIRIT: A Renewal Theology of the Lord’s Supper (Word & Spirit). By Florian M. P. Simatupang. Foreword by Chris E. W. Green. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2025. Xiii + 213 pages.
During my sojourn in
Pentecostalism, the Lord’s Supper rarely played a significant role in our
worship gatherings. When we did have communion, the presentation of the
sacrament (ordinance) did not draw specifically from Pentecostal theology. As I
remember, communion was understood as a memorialistic event. We were told that
the reason we didn’t observe this ordinance very often is that if celebrated
too often, it would become devoid of meaning. It's the same message I heard in
other evangelical settings where communion was a rarity. Might it be wise for Pentecostals
to rethink their eucharistic theologies and practices? Could the idea that
frequent communion would make it less meaningful be incorrect? Being that I am
an ordained minister in a tradition that practices weekly communion, I would
disagree with that assessment, but what about Pentecostals? Might they benefit
from embracing a more robust eucharistic theology and practice, one that is
rooted in Pentecostal theology rather than evangelicalism?
One who wishes to embrace a robust
eucharistic theology and practice that includes frequent communion is Florian
M. P. Simatupang. His book The Eucharistic Spirit is a revision of his doctoral
dissertation, which is subtitled A Renewal Theology of the Lord’s Supper. In
this book, Simatupang, who is an assistant professor of theology at Jakarta
Theological Seminary, seeks to develop a distinctly Pentecostal theology of the
Lord’s Supper. What makes Simatupang’s book even more valuable is that it
emerges out of his background as an Indonesian Christian, such that his
theology emerges out of a highly pluralistic context.
The question that Simatupang seeks
to answer concerns the question of what "sort of experience of grace does
the Holy Spirit give a Pentecostal believer when one celebrates the
Eucharist?" To answer this question, he uses a process rooted in
Pentecostal spirituality known as "Search-Encounter-Transformation"
(SET). This is a methodology I was unfamiliar with, such that I had to go back
several times to find the definition. Nonetheless, it provides Simatupang with
a helpful interpretative grid to explore his subject. In working through various
Pentecostal theologies of the Eucharist, he often turned to comparisons with other
traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, as a lens,
especially when it comes to the concept of anamnesis, which he believes broadens
the Pentecostal understanding of salvation. Thus, "As the Holy Spirit is
called upon in the epiclesis, he allows the church to attain a
pneumatological imagination, enabling the church to remember the work of Christ
well." Using the SET process, he engages with biblical texts and other
Christian traditions to create a renewal theology of the Eucharist. Simatupang’s
goal in this effort is to highlight an experience of transformation that takes
place in the context of the Eucharist.
There are elements here of a
typical dissertation. In the early chapters, the author reviews traditional
Pentecostal understandings of the Eucharist, focusing on official
documents/theological statements on the part of the Assemblies of God, Church
of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), and the International Church of the Foursquare
Gospel. Besides these statements, which are brief and not very informative, he
also examines non-official but fuller statements on the Eucharist provided by leading
Pentecostal theologians, including Chris Green, Wolfgang Vondey, and Amos Yong,
among others. These provide the foundation for the further exploration of
biblical texts and perspectives from outside Pentecostalism that he believes
might enrich Pentecostal sacramental understandings. Therefore, the introduction
and the first two chapters of the book offer an analysis of Pentecostal
Eucharistic theology along with Ecumenical Eucharistic Theology. Then in
chapter 4, Simatupang offers a "Rereading" of the "Biblical
Text." In this chapter, he reviews each of the relevant passages in the
New Testament, offering a helpful summary of this teaching on the central work
of the Church.
Once Simatupang lays down the
foundations of his sacramental theology, he moves on to the material that I
found the most interesting in the book. It is Chapter 5, where he lays out
"A Renewal Theology of the Eucharist," in which Simatupang begins to
provide his vision of a Pentecostal renewal theology of the Eucharist. What I
found fascinating here is the author’s discovery of important words of wisdom
in both the Orthodox and Catholic worlds. This includes his attempts to rethink
the Catholic doctrine of transfiguration in a pneumatological manner, such that
he can envision the recipients of the Eucharist being transformed. He makes
seven points in this chapter concerning the Eucharist from a Pentecostal
perspective that I believe could easily be turned into a book of its own.
The first point concerns the “Eucharist
as Solidarity.” By that, he envisions the Eucharist serving as a point of
solidarity with Christ and with others. Secondly, he speaks of the “Eucharist
as Justice.” He speaks directly here of the problem of white privilege in
the church. Third, he speaks of the “Eucharist as Hunger Management.” He
calls for the church to envision the need to feed the hungry as an outgrowth of
the Eucharist. This call to feed others is rooted in the Pentecostal
communities’ “search and encounter Christ at the table and is fed by the Lord
at his table, they are given a foretaste of the uninterrupted eschatological
feast of the Kingdom of God. In this eschatological feast, no one goes hungry
because all will be fed by the Lord himself, who dwells among his people.” This
should lead to engaging in feeding those who are hungry (p. 157). The fourth
point envisions the “Eucharist as healing.” The Pentecostal movement has
a long tradition of healing ministry. Here, the author connects this tradition
with the Eucharist as a healing event. It is here that he brings in the
Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but with a twist, such that it speaks
to the embodiedness of the faith. Fifth, he speaks of “Eucharist as Mission.”
This is another key Pentecostal element as the movement has, from the beginning,
had a missionary impulse. He lists three ways in which it is missional—in its
discernment in seeing the other, in sending Christians into the world, and
finally as a sign of the eschatological feast. Regarding this last element, he writes
of the “Eucharist as Eschatology.” Here, he wishes to steer Pentecostals
in a different eschatological direction than the typical millenarian vision, such
that he draws on Eastern Orthodox theology to envision a “now, not yet” view
that leads to Christian unity. He believes embracing the Eucharist can help
clarify Pentecostal eschatology. This eschatological vision offers a
theological foundation to the Pentecostal vision of an open table as a
"forecast of the eschatological righteousness, peace, and joy that will be
made complete by the Holy Spirit" (p. 173). The seventh dimension is “Eucharist
as Apokatastasis,” or the restoration of all things. In his
view, the Eucharist involves transformation and restoration. As such, there is
nothing transformative about either annihilation or eternal damnation. That
might not sound like typical Pentecostal theology, but it is a way of
connecting Pentecostal understandings of the role of the Holy Spirit with input
from other Christian traditions, especially Eastern Orthodoxy. I found this
section fascinating.
Having recently published a book on
the Eucharist myself with the same publisher—Eating with Jesus: Reflections on Divine Encounters at the Open Eucharistic Table— I found several places in
this final chapter where he lays out his eucharistic vision, where the two of
us come to similar positions. This includes his emphasis on the open table and
the table being a place of encounter with Jesus that is facilitated by the Holy
Spirit. While we may have come at describing the role of the eucharistic table from
different vantage points, they do connect in intriguing ways.
Chapter 6 functions as a conclusion
to The Eucharistic Spirit, drawing together in a nice summation what he
had offered in the preceding chapters. As for implications for Pentecostalism,
he offers this book as a foundation of an argument for frequent (weekly at
least) communion. If this renewal theology is followed, he believes it will
lead to a paradigm shift, such that it will become more than a commemorative
event, and will allow Pentecostals to see Christ feeding himself to us so we
become what we eat.
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