Summary

Chapter Seventeen marks the beginning of Part IV, which is titled "Communion". In this introductory chapter, titled “Bread”, the author follows the process of making bread all the way from the plowing of the field in which seed is planted to a dog feeding himself on the crumbs of the bread after it had been eaten. The various steps along the journey, as the author describes them, are portrayed in language that echoes stories in the Bible. There are references throughout this narrative to the “Teacher” (122, et al), with the description of how the bread was eaten closely echoing the Biblical story of Christ’s Last Supper before the Crucifixion. There are also references, in this narrative, to how the Teacher was recognized after His Resurrection by the way he broke the bread at a group meal. The chapter concludes with a paraphrase...