The Biblical Humanities

Holy Ingestions: Sacrificial Bodies, Communion, and The Eucharist

Wednesday, January 17, 2018
St. Vincent DePaul Parish
1010 West Webster Avenue, Chicago​

7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Lectures and Performances

9:00 – 9:30 p.m. Wine and cheese reception sponsored by Saint Vincent de Paul Parish

A sacrifice and a sacrament, the Eucharist brings together faith and practice in a way that causes us to think about the manner in which a community is constituted by what its members eat and how that ingestion is made possible and understood as something more—understood as a community in communion. Emeritus Prof. of Religious Studies, James G. Hart (Indiana University) undertakes a phenomenology of the Eucharist that thinks through the distinction between God and the world; DePaul alum and Assistant Prof. of Religion and Theology, Anthony Paul Smith (La Salle University) considers the political aspects of the practice of the Eucharist, especially how it is tied to the suffering of the flesh of marginalized others; Lecturer in Anthropology, Rachel Briggs (University of North Carolina) turns our attention to other traditions that bring together sacrifice and eating, especially the Corn Mother myth in various Native American cultures; and Robert Beatty, Director of Music at the Saint Vincent de Paul Parish, leads the Saint Vincent de Paul Chamber Chorale in live musical performances that tie together these various traditions and practices, making a case for how art as well as scholarly investigation leads to enlightenment, understanding, and satiation.