From Newsgroup: sci.lang
Transubstantiation (Catholic): The bread and wine become Christ's body and blood. The original substances cease to exist.
Consubstantiation (Lutheran-associated): The bread and wine coexist with Christ's body and blood. Both substances remain present together.
So it seems one is easier to imagine.
It's just like when children "pretend" that a pile of sand is a big mountain.
You have hit on exactly how critics and secular philosophers often view it. It is a perfect metaphor for symbolic play.
However, theologians from both sides would argue their concepts are actually the exact opposite of a child's game of pretend.
Here is how they see it differently from imaginative play:
-- In "Pretend" Play: The child knows the sand is just sand. They use their human imagination to project the idea of a mountain onto it. The change happens entirely inside the child's mind.
-- In Theology: The believer argues that human imagination has nothing to do with it. They believe a literal, objective reality is altered by God's divine power. To them, it is real whether you imagine it or not.
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