The eschatological form of the body of Christ

An approximation of the eucharistic theology of Zeno Carra with the eschatological anthropology of Fabrice Hadjadj

Abstract

How is Jesus Christ present in the sacrament of the Eucharist? This is the central question that the Italian theologian Zeno Carra investigates in his study of fundamental theology about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Carra proposes a procedural form of the liturgical rite as the locus of Christ's presence. The French philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj, on the other hand, sees in the event of the Resurrection the inauguration of the eschatological space where the risen Body of Christ would be, which is accessed through the Eucharist. While Hadjadj elaborates principles of a eucharistic physics to emphasize the eschatological presence of Christ, Carra, in opposition to a metaphysical conception of reality, proposes the relational and vectorized form of the historical Christ and the Paschal Christ as the origin of their sacramental presence. In an effort to converge the concept of form adopted by Zeno Carra and Fabrice Hadjadj's eschatological approach, the article reflects on the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and on the process of configuration to Christ as the eucharistic form of Christian life. In its conclusion, the article proposes the expansion of Carra's model to include Hadjadj's eschatological perspective and recognizes in the Emmaus account (Lk 24, 13-35) both the presence processed by the forms of mediation, as well as the given and revealed presence of the Christ risen.