John W. Nevin

The Mystical Presence John W. Nevin

"The Eucharist forms the very heart of Christian worship, so the entire question of the Church centers ultimately in the sacramental question as its inmost heart and core. Our view of the Lord's Supper must ever condition and rule in the end our view of Christ's person and the conception we form of the Church. It must influence at the same time, very materially, our whole system of theology, as well as all our ideas of ecclesiastical history..." -adapted from the Preface One of the foundational works expressing the Mercersburg Theology, The Mystical Presence established Nevin as a controversial theologian that shook the Reformed tradition to its core. First published in 1846, Nevin's intention was to return the American Reformed churches to a pure Calvinistic vision, less individualistic and more catholic than the faith had become in his time. The Mystical Presence is a Reformed tour de force on the theology of the Holy Eucharist, with profound implications for our understanding of the church.