It sounds like you’re hoping that Java has a corresponding feature for field references as it does for method references. But this is not the case. Method references are shorthand for a certain category of lambda expressions, but there is no corresponding syntax for fields. Field literals were explored during the JSR-335 Expert Group deliberation (there is some reference to it here http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/lambda-dev/2011-November/004235.html) but were not included in Java SE 8.