Cover: The Triumph of the Eucharist
(Anonymous, 16th century)
*Original housed at the Met in New York City.
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This book is focused on the reception history of Thomas Aquinas’ account of Eucharistic sacrifice during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Although the sacrificial character of the Eucharist has been of interest to theologians throughout the Church’s history, during the early sixteenth century renewed attention was given to this subject, in part because of disputes that arose between Reformed and Catholic theologians about the relationship between the Eucharistic liturgy and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Does the Eucharistic presence itself have a sacrificial quality? Can aspects of the liturgy or dimensions of the moral life be considered a sacrifice, and if so in what way?
Although itself a product of the Middle Ages, as a received text the Summa is in many ways a creature of the early modern period. Interpreting the reception of this text therefore requires one to consider not only the Summa in its original environment, but the life of this same text as it was received in new interpretive contexts.
On the subject of Eucharistic sacrifice specifically, the early modern reception history of the Summa is particularly rich, and underexplored. In addition to those questions raised by Reformed theologians, during this period the text of the Summa came to be intertwined with a variety of new problems, concerns and contexts. These include the place of humanist biblical scholarship in the study of theology, the concern for human rights and international law in the Americas, and the relationship between Aquinas’ natural anthropology of sacrifice and pre-Christian accounts of the socio-political context for sacrifice.
This book begins by first studying the textual structure and contents of Aquinas’ presentation of Eucharistic sacrifice in the Summa theologiae. Using the text of the Summa as a backdrop, subsequent chapters explore the early modern textuality of the Summa by studying a series of influential theologians such as Cajetan, Vitoria and the Salamanca School, the early Jesuits and John of St. Thomas.
Reviews:
"In this study, Reginald Lynch, OP, fills a significant lacuna in historical theology by analyzing the treatment and use that Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae received in early modern Catholic theology, bringing a sharper focus to the issue than the more general studies of Marius Lepin and Francis Clark...as a work of historical theology this volume is a valuable asset in understanding just what Aquinas and these early modern theologians taught. I would judge it a “must read” for anyone seriously interested in the theology of eucharistic sacrifice."
John F. Baldovin, SJ, Theological Studies 85.4 (2025)
“This book is a fascinating study of the doctrine of Eucharistic sacrifice as conceived by Thomas Aquinas and by Cardinal Cajetan, Francisco Vitoria, Melchior Cano, Dominic Soto, Domingo Bañez, Robert Bellarmine, Francisco Suárez, Gabriel Vásquez, and John of St. Thomas…Lynch’s study represents a relatively new movement in theological scholarship to explore early modern sources, and his work is groundbreaking. As a contribution to historical theology, Lynch’s book enhances our understanding of Reformation-era debates (between Protestants and Catholics, and also between Dominicans and Jesuits) as well as adding to our appreciation for the impact of the discovery of the New World.”
Matthew Levering, Church History 93.3 (2024)
“Already one of Anglophone theology’s leading experts on Scholastic sacramental theologies, Lynch brings his solid competence in medieval and Thomistic theology to bear on the religious thinkers of a different historical period than the thirteenth century.…Lynch’s expert historical study takes the reader into a fascinating world of pre- and post Tridentine Catholic Eucharistic theologies, and provides a theological toolbox for systematic theologians, liturgists, and pastors as they take up difficult sacramental, liturgical, and ecumenical questions anew.”
Bernhard Blankenhorn, OP The Thomist 89.4 (2025)
“Lynch’s study is a model of clarity and lucidity; though the concepts employed are sometimes technical they are explained and defined for the reader, and the writing is elegant in an austere way. The different theological positions are examined sympathetically as Lynch argues that each reflects engagement with Aquinas’s rich and multilayered legacy rather than insisting on the priority of any particular early modern view, though the book culminates with the writing of the Dominican John of St Thomas…Lynch’s study shows the immense significance of the Summa across the early modern period, particularly for such a consequential topic as eucharistic sacrifice, but it also invites readers to consider further for themselves the historical, social, and theological significance of some of these debates. As an account of the reception of Aquinas and of early modern eucharistic theology, the insights it offers will be greatly welcomed by theologians and historians alike.”
Sarah Mortimer, The Journal of Theological Studies 76.1 (2025)
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