Catholics and Protestants have different views about the Eucharist.

Catholics like myself believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,

that Jesus is literally and wholly present, body and blood,

soul and divinity under the appearances of bread and wine,

if you know as transubstantiation.

In Protestant circles, there is a range of views.

While most Protestants don't believe in transubstantiation,

a majority do believe in some form of the real presence.

The belief that Christ's body and blood are really present in the Eucharist

is common in Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist circles.

In Calvinist circles, it is more common to say that Christ's body and blood

are spiritually received in the Eucharist, and in Baptist circles,

it is believed that the bread and wine only symbolize Christ's body and blood.

In other words, they hold that when Christ said,

this is my body, this is my blood, that he was speaking metaphorically.

While the views vary in their details, they fall into two broad classes.

The belief that Christ's body and blood are really present in the Eucharist

and that they are not, meaning that they are only spiritually or symbolically present.

Now, when Catholics and Protestants debate which view is correct,

each side has its list of scriptural texts at the ready.

The Catholic and many Protestants might point to John 653,

where our Lord says, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man

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