John Betts, "Just Your Average Catholic Guy," blogs about an Anglican bishop who thinks that his ecclesial community need to tone down the cannibalistic language of some of their prayers. Well, I say "Hear, hear!" I'm with the good bishop 100%. The link to the Salt Lake Tribune is dead, so I'll repeat what John reported:
Anglican Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries has suggested that the "cannibalistic language of the Eucharist" is part of the reason Christianity is declining in Britain. In a controversial new book, God Outside the Box, Harries described the revulsion that the uninitiated can feel at one of the best-loved prayers in the Church of England's prayer book. The Prayer of Humble Access reads, in part: "Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood". The bishop suggested the church "qualify the imagery in order to help people realize that this is a metaphor. We should use images like 'the food of angels' and 'the bread of life' instead".
Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct, but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.
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