Karl Barth and the Lord's Supper

This volume offers a contemporary account of the Lord’s Supper that goes with and beyond the work of Karl Barth. By way of foundation, it provides the first comprehensive narrative of the historical development of Barth’s idea of the Lord’s Supper across his theological career. It then presents a constructive doctrine of the Lord’s Supper that comports with Barth’s final position and bears insightful possibilities for current theological conversations. In this ethical account, the Lord’s Supper is an event of renewal and witness that is undertaken in gratitude, an event that as paradigmatic human action and as saving human work constitutes the crowning of the Christian life.The first section of the book thinks with Barth in exploring the development of his understanding of the Eucharist over the course of his career. In the second section, a creative attempt is made to think after Barth, by constructing an original account of the Eucharist that is true to the insights of Barth's mature work - including his completed work on baptism and his last utterances on the Eucharist. A short conclusion considers this account of the Eucharist in ecumenical perspective.