Transignification

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Part of the series on Communion

also known as "The Eucharist" or "The Lord's Supper"

Theology Consecration Consubstantiation Impanation Memorialism Real Presence Sacramental Union Transignification Transubstantiation

Theologies contrasted Anglican Eucharistic theology

Important theologians Paul ·Aquinas Augustine · Calvin Chrysostom · Cranmer Luther · Zwingli

Related Articles Christianity Catholic Historic Roots Closed and Open Table Divine Liturgy Eucharistic adoration Eucharistic discipline First Communion Infant Communion Mass · Sacrament Sanctification

Transignification is an idea, largely in Anglican and progressive Catholic circles, which attempts a rationalistic explanation of the Real Presence of Christ at Mass. The theology states that although Christ's body and blood are not physically present in the Eucharist, they are really and objectively so, as the elements take on at the consecration the real significance of this body and blood, which thus become sacramentally present.

It is thus contrasted not only to belief in a physical or chemical change in the elements, but also to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that there is a change only of the underlying reality, but not of anything that concerns physics or chemistry (see Transubstantiation).

The concept of transignification is based on the thought that there are two kinds of presence, local and personal. Jesus is personally, but not locally, present at the Mass. One can be locally present, as when riding on a bus, but one's thoughts can be far away, making one personally not present.

The theory has been rejected by the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular thorugh Pope Paul VI's 1965 encyclical Mysterium Fidei [1]. However, it is considered to be similar to the Anglican position set forth by Thomas Cranmer in the Book of Common Prayer.

[edit] See also

• Real Presence
• Eucharistic theologies contrasted
• Transubstantiation
• Anglican Eucharistic theology