A Gift of Presence

Jan Heiner Tueck is professor of dogmatic theology and vice dean of the Catholic Theology Faculty at the University of Vienna.

"Jan-Heiner Tueck's A Gift of Presence offers a lucid and at the same time beautiful re-lecture of Thomas Aquinas's theology of the Eucharist. What makes the book in a welcome way unique is Tueck's insightful interpretation of Thomas's Eucharistic theology through the lens of his Eucharistic hymns and prayers. By way of this fresh interpretive route, Tueck leads the reader right to the heart of Aquinas's Eucharistic vision and from there into a compelling contemporaneous recovery of an authentic Eucharistic existence. In dialogue with contemporary theology, philosophy, and literature, and with a commendable ecumenical sensitivity, Tueck achieves in this insightful work a remarkable fusion of theology, spirituality, poetry, and existential relevance. A Gift of Presence is an enticing invitation to rediscover the dazzling beauty, the unfathomable depth, and the existential relevance of Thomas's Eucharistic theology. -"--Reinhard Huetter, Ordinary Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology, The Catholic University of America"Tueck's achievement in this wide-ranging and insightful book is remarkable. He describes Aquinas's Eucharistic theology accurately and with sensitivity, playing up its strengths--not least, the underscoring of Christ's irreducible Eucharistic presence, a presence which is 'for us'--while taking into consideration various criticisms coming from different quarters, including from scholars of liturgy. Tueck is as adept in the Eucharistic poetry of Aquinas as he is in the systematic writings. Indeed, the second part of this book provides what is tantamount to the finest analysis of all of Aquinas's Eucharistic hymns--as theology and as poetry--now available. The third and final part of the book is especially stimulating, as Tueck offers a modern reformulation of Eucharistic change and presence (arguably more accessible to modern Christians) that strives to be faithful to Aquinas's core convictions about Eucharist and its centrality for Christian belief and practice. The translation reads well; and the translator is to be congratulated for making this rich and important book available to English readers. The book, I think, is a must-read for anyone interested in Eucharistic theology and practice, past and present."--Joseph Wawrykow, University of Notre Dame