Transforming Memory: Re-membering Eucharist

Abstract

This article explores the gap between eucharistic narratives, common eucharistic practices and the racially segregated realities of mainline Christianity. Using the wisdom of trauma theory to excavate the dismembered Body of Christ that gathers for Communion in most American churches, the authors seek to re-member Eucharist with new embodied “postures and gestures” of transformation and redemption. Close attention to both the destructive force of the “colorblind” narrative that many churches adopt and the need to embrace a more honest narrative about whiteness inform the character of these transformative postures and gestures.