On the possibility of presence: Overcoming mere memorialism in British Pentecostal eucharistic theology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pentecostals are widely considered to take a Zwinglian memorialist approach to their understanding of the Lord’s Supper despite the fact that a merely memorialist Communion stands in stark contrast to both the lived reality of historical Pentecostal eucharistic worship and the theological reflection of the early Pentecostals. This paper argues that the Pentecostal understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit can provide a model for a Pentecostal eucharistic theology which eschews Zwinglian memorialism and finds instead a Supper which, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is filled with the Saviour.