I wonder to what extent a qualified and Christianized platonism is necessary in order to understand what is meant by the "true body and blood of Christ." Can we say that there are "higher" levels of substantiation of being and that the forms of material, physical things are a dim participation in the more real reality, as a type to an archetype? In modern, rationalistic times this language has been misunderstood as reducing the eucharist to mere metaphor, whereas within a worldview formed by Christian platonism, it is so much more than metaphor, actually a statement about truly existing reality.
https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/ratramnus
I wonder to what extent a qualified and Christianized platonism is necessary in order to understand what is meant by the "true body and blood of Christ." Can we say that there are "higher" levels of substantiation of being and that the forms of material, physical things are a dim participation in the more real reality, as a type to an archetype? In modern, rationalistic times this language has been misunderstood as reducing the eucharist to mere metaphor, whereas within a worldview formed by Christian platonism, it is so much more than metaphor, actually a statement about truly existing reality.