The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth

Interest in the last book of the Bible, Revelation or the Apocalypse, runs so high that Hal Lindsey's book synching ancient prophecy to the daily news, The Late Great Planet Earth, was the best-selling non-fiction book of the '70s, and now ranks as the number two bestseller of the last thirty years. Instead of looking to the future, however, Scott Hahn looks to the past, to the early church, to be exact. What did they think of this book, which owes its inclusion in the Bible to St. Augustine? The results are clearly revealing. In both the New Testament and the earliest church document, the Didache, the writers found the events of Revelation reflected in their celebration of the Mass. Moreso, the Mass was specifically designed to reflect the books of Revelation and Hebrews (also courtesy of St. Augustine). Anyone who has dipped into either book immediately encounters the idea of worship on earth as a reflection of worship in heaven. However, the casual reader may be surprised how many details fall into place following this idea. Scott Hahn wrote this book for Catholics with at least some casual acquaintance with the Mass. They may not know the names of the Gloria and the Kyrie, but something will likely ring a bell. He assumes the reader has no knowledge, on the other hand, of the book of Revelation. I'd like to suggest another audience for the book, and that is the mainstream and non-denominational Protestants and charismatics who make up Hal Lindsey's readers. What would they get out of this book? First, at least an initial encounter with the Mass, which generally elicits surprise at how much Scripture is both read and incorporated into it. The next shock is how much of that comes from the book of Revelation. If an aftershock is forthcoming, it may be in realizing how much the altar and structure of the Mass resembles the vision in Revelation, as well as other places such as the books of Daniel and Nehemiah. The writing style of this book is also rather unusual. There are humorous sub-titles, perhaps in an attempt to lighten the heavy subject matter. The writing is at once dense and breezy, perhaps to enable the casual reader to skim, and the more intrigued reader to dig deeper. At first glance, there are almost no or references. This, however, is merely to keep the text from bogging down in endless citations. Numerous Scripture references are given as asides in the text, and there are copious, engaging endnotes for those so drawn. This book would be ideal for a book study, or a Bible study in which members simply looked up and discussed the many Bible references in the text. The really good news is that Scott Hahn wrote the notes for Ignatius' Catholic Study Bible New Testament, which is the Revised Standard Version, the readable and literary English version approved for and by both Catholics and Protestants, and which will likely incorporate many of these revealing insights Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament . In both cases, Scott Hahn's (re)discovery of the view of the Mass in the early church is a revelation.

Loved this book as I continue to learn and understand the Catholic faith. Scott Hahn does such a great job.

I purchased both the audiobook and the Kindle ebook because I like the Whispersync for voice feature and often read and listen at the same time. The author, Scott Hahn, self-narrated this audiobook. The reading is very professional, as good an audiobook as I’ve listened to anytime; I would like to see him do more. The allegorical concepts in the book of Revelation were enlightening and I felt that I learned a lot. Much of the interpretation was new to me, though I’ve read Revelation many times. I feel he is spot on with his many references and parallels between the Scriptures and the Mass. I definitely recommend this book as well as any other works by this author.

Born a Catholic and having practiced all my life, it was not until I was witnessed to by an evangelical and learned to study scripture that I truly began to understand what it meant to follow Christ through the traditions of the Roman Catholic church. "It took an Evangelical to make me a better Catholic," therefore, became my testimony. Like so many Catholics, the rites and rituals of the church incorrectly replaced my relationship with Jesus. Once born again, they took their proper place helping to support and nurture that relationship; along with prayer, fellowship with other believers and study of scripture. What once was rote became alive. The mass, in particular, took on new mean. Dr. Hahn's book further deepened my understanding of the relevance and importance of the mass and the Eucharist through his clear articulation of the relationship of both to the book of Revelation. By doing so, he helps to unify Christ's Church - the one, true Church - here on earth. It is, therefore, an important read for ANY member of the Church, whether one practices in the traditions of the Roman Catholic church, or any other denomination or non-denominational church. The mass and the Eucharist are truly the closest to heaven we will ever get while here on earth! Thank you, Dr. Hahn.

Great book! Dr. Hahn is an excellent writer, and goes a long way to helping Christians better understand the Book of Revelation.

No words! Read this book during my RCIA class and it opened my eyes to the mystery of the mass

カトリック信者であれば、あまりに慣れ親しみすぎて、ふとするとミサの価値を見落としているかもしれません。 プロテスタントの礼拝は、牧師の説教中心ですが、カトリックのミサは、祭壇上におられるキリストの現存とそのキリストへの礼拝が中心です。 しかも、黙示録の中で描かれている天国での礼拝が、そのままミサでは再現されています。「聖なるかな、聖なるかな、聖なるかな」、「神の子羊」等々。 著者であるスコット・ハーン氏は、元長老派の牧師で、誰よりもアンチカトリックでしたが、カトリックの教条を知れば知るほど、また、初期の教父たちの残した著書を調べれば調べるほど、そこに真理と２千年前から変わらない伝統を発見し、論駁できないことに困惑します。そして、ミサにあずかったことが決定的回心の瞬間となります。まさに聖書を愛するプロテスタントとしてミサを見つめるとき、聖書に書かれてあることが逐一ミサの中で実現しているからです。 カトリックに偏見を抱いてしまっているプロテスタントだけでなく、ミサのおどろくべき価値に気付いていないカトリックにとっても必読の書です。

This book helped me to see the Mass with so much more beauty and meaning than before. This was especially helpful as I had become callus to the Mass.

Ce livre montre le lien entre l’Écriture Sainte et la pratique catholique de la Messe - il montre notamment que les catholiques, loin de 'mépriser' la Bible comme cela leur a été reproché, la "vivent" pendant la Messe. C'est aussi un excellent livre pour ceux qui, en lisant la Bible, ont eu du mal à comprendre l'Apocalypse. C'est écrit dans un anglais très simple, proche du langage parlé, et donc assez accessible même sans avoir un excellent niveau d'anglais.

I recently went through the Catholic Church's RCIA program and converted to Catholicism. During my time in RCIA I read many current books on Catholicism and found they ranged in quality from excellent to total rubbish. This is one of the books I would put firmly at the higher quality end of that scale. The author is a former Protestant minister (the book doesn't specify the denomination although I'm guessing Lutheran by reading between the lines of a few comments in the book) who converted to Catholicism. From his knowledge of Protestant theology, he brings an interesting perspective to his commentary on Catholicism. In this book he examines the historical, Scriptural and theological origins of the Catholic Mass. It all fascinating material. The explanations of the Mass presented in the Church's RCIA classes are very basic compared those presented in this book. I made a list of the points raised in this book about individual components of the Mass and took it to Mass, checking off the points as they came up in the Mass. It was a very interesting exercise that left me with a far greater appreciation of the Mass than I got from the Church's RCIA classes. The second theme of the book is an interpretaion of the Book of Revelation suggesting that Revelation is basically an instruction manual for early Christians regarding Mass and other fundamental rites and practices of the early Christian Church. It's a very interesting interpretation that is well worth reading. In short, an excellent book that is well worth the attention of anyone wanting to explore the origins and meaning of the Catholic Mass in greater detail than you typically get in Church, certainly in far greater detail than the Church's RCIA classes.