DOCSLIB.ORG

Article Review a Theory of Liturgical Relativity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Article Review a Theory of Liturgical Relativity ECCLESIOLOGY Ecclesiology 5 (2009) 237–245 brill.nl/ecso Article Review A Th eory of Liturgical Relativity Stephen Platten Bishop’s Lodge,Woodthorpe Lane,Wakefi eld,WF2 6JL, UK bishop@bishopofwakefi eld.org.uk Pink Dandelion, Th e Liturgies of Quakerism (Aldershot, Hants; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004), xii + 138 pp. £16.99. ISBN 0-7546-3129-X (pbk), £50.00. 0-7546-3128-1 (hbk). R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred (London and New York: Continuum, 2005), 394 pp. £22.99. ISBN 0-8264-1701-9 (pbk), £115.00. 0-8264-1697-7 (hbk). Martin D. Stringer, A Sociological History of Christian Worship . (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). viii + 268 pp. £17.99. ISBN 0-521- 52559-4 (pbk); £41.99. 0-521-81955-5 (hbk). Th ere are unquestionably many candidates who might be considered for ‘the prize for the greatest infl uence of all over the twentieth century’, either for good or for evil. Whoever might win that competition, undoubtedly Dr. Albert Einstein would be in the last six, if not the all out winner. His ‘Special’ and ‘General’ Th eories of Relativity have helped shape our world in so many diff er- ent ways. Within the compass of his writings, the famous equation E = mc2 would take pride of place. In this tiny arrangement of formulae is encapsulated a remarkable revolution in our understanding of the universe. For within this tiny mathematical expression we fi nd energy, mass and light all brought into conjunction. So, no longer are the physical world around us, or the energy which enlivens and powers that world, or indeed time itself independent and unchang- ing qualities. All are relativised and eff ectively we cannot understand any one of these standing alone. None loses its signifi cance but instead the importance of © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI 10.1163/174553109X422359 238 S. Platten / Ecclesiology 5 (2009) 237–245 each is enhanced, but only if taken in conjunction with the other two. Einstein’s equation has helped redefi ne our understanding of reality with a signifi cant impact upon our capabilities both scientifi cally and in how we order our lives. Scientifi c relativity might seem an unlikely place from which to start a brief refl ection on our understanding of liturgy within human experience. Never- theless, a variety of diff erent infl uences have come together to cause something similar to the relativising revolution in science to occur within liturgical stud- ies. Only a generation ago liturgy was practised largely as a historically com- parative study. For Anglicans this often meant a detailed analysis of how the Book of Common Prayer came to arrive in its present form. Often a rather superfi cial understanding of the progress of the English Reformation led to a deterministic description of the process which helped form the 1559 Elizabethan prayer book. Th roughout the twentieth century, however, the application of a more objective scholarly critical historical apparatus began to have its impact. Dom Gregory Dix’s classical study of the eucharist is one outstanding example of this. 1 Th is study itself, however, needs to be placed within the wider context of the development of the liturgical movement and notably the work of Dom Lambert Beauduin at the monastery of Mont César in Louvain, and then also of the work of Abbot Ildefons Herwegen and Dom Odo Casel in the monastery of Maria Laach in the Rheinland. 2 Increasingly liturgical study proceeded within an ecumenical context and by the last quar- ter of the last century this became explicitly so in the publication of composite volumes cataloguing the large growing consensus in scholarship. 3 Th is process itself brought with it positive ecclesiological implications. Th ese implications were spelt out in practice through the liturgical revision which was a common part of the history of almost all the mainstream churches in the last decades of the twentieth century. Th e advent of the Second Vatican Council, inaugurated by Pope John XXIII in 1960 by a motu proprio , furthered the process of liturgical revision dramatically. Th e Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was promulgated at the end of the second session of the Council in December 1963. 4 Th e direct result of this was the publication of the Missa 1 ) Gregory Dix, Th e Shape of the Liturgy . London, A&C Black. (Dacre Press). 1945. 2 ) R. Kevin Seasoltz, See particularly pp. 229-245. 3 ) See, for example, Cheslyn Jones, Geoff rey Wainright and Edward Yarnold S.J., Th e Study of Liturgy . London. 1978. 4 ) General Editor: Austin Flannery O.P., Vatican Council II: Th e Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents . Costello Publishing, New York. 1975, 1987. ‘Th e Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy’. pp. 1-282. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fresh Thoughts on Confirmation
    ATR/88:3 Fresh Thoughts on Confirmation Ruth A. Meyers* This essay explores the theological, liturgical, and pastoral principles underlying the rite of confirmation in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and considers contemporary pastoral concerns, including the role of the bishop and the ritualization of a person’s affiliation with the Episcopal Church. It argues that the rites in- troduced in 1979 should be understood in the context of the bap- tismal ecclesiology of the 1979 book, in which baptism is the basis for Christian mission and ministry. In this context, confirmation and the related rites of reception and reaffirmation of faith should be offered as pastoral responses to significant turning points in Christian life but should not be a requirement for lay or ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church. Among the myriad changes in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (BCP), none are more profound, more far reaching, than those made in the rites and practices of what is frequently called “Christian initiation”: baptism, confirmation, and admission to communion. Moreover, in the three decades since the book was introduced, none of the changes has resulted in more confusion and disagreement than the new rite of “Confirmation, with forms for Reception and for the Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows.” Changes to the national canons during the last twenty years have attempted to define and clarify understandings and practices of con- firmation and related rites. Most recently, the Standing Commission on Ministry Development proposed to the 2003 General Convention a series of revisions to the canons that would eliminate the require- ment of confirmation for those holding elected or appointed office or seeking ordination in the Episcopal Church.
    [Show full text]
  • The Liturgical Reception of Isaiah 6
    Worship as Interpretation: The Liturgical Reception of Isaiah 6 Sebastian Yosef Selvén Wolfson College, Cambridge June, 2017 This dissertation is submitted to the University of Cambridge for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ▪ This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. ▪ It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text ▪ It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. 2 This dissertation is an investigation into how the Hebrew Bible is used in (Rabbinic) Jewish and Christian liturgical settings, and how this impacts biblical scholars. I argue against the neglect of liturgy and ritual in reception studies and make the case that liturgy is one of the major influential forms of biblical reception. I do this by taking Isa. 6:3 as my example. My liturgical material is the qedushah liturgies in Ashkenazi Judaism and the Sanctus in three church traditions; (pre-1969) Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (the Church of England) and Lutheranism (Martin Luther, and the Church of Sweden).
    [Show full text]
  • A Synopsis of Dom Gregory Dix's
    A Synopsis of Dom Gregory Dix‟s The Shape of the Liturgy By Father John Worgul Holy Trinity Seminary at Life in Jesus, Fall 2006 To immerse oneself in Dom Dix‟s magisterial The Shape of the Liturgy1 is a holy experience. The work indeed is imposing, and no doubt many students, upon looking at its thick binding, small print, and 752 pages, trembled before it like the children of Israel before Mount Sinai. However, if we let him, this scholarly monk will take us to sacred places no one else can, even into the very primal beginnings of our Christian faith. It is true that he is an academician and is very careful in his analysis of countless documents in various antiquated languages, but his heart is touched with the fire of God, and this lightens the potential heaviness of his topic. In fact, at times he is absolutely inspired, inviting us who persevere with him into hidden places and moments clouded by ancient mists, bringing us before the very altars of the saints who first experienced the holy Eucharist with the Apostles. Having said this, it is acknowledged that not everyone, for one reason or other, is able to plow through these dense pages. I thought it might be helpful to write a synopsis of the book, not only for the sake of those who might benefit from it, but also for my own sake to clarify in my own thinking what the great liturgist is trying to say. It must be carefully noted by the reader that I am not a liturgist and that I make no claim to follow fully all the subtle arguments that run through the work.
    [Show full text]
  • Dom Gregory Dix – Reshaped
    Homo Eucharisticus: Dom Gregory Dix – Reshaped David John Fuller, B Sc, B Th Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religious Studies University of Glasgow December 2013 Copyright © David Fuller, 2013 Homo Eucharisticus: Dom Gregory Dix – Reshaped 2 ABSTRACT In his book The Shape of the Liturgy Dom Gregory Dix coined the phrase ‘Eucharistic man’. In a speech to clergy Archbishop Rowan Williams remarked that Homo Eucharisticus, his Latinised version of Dix’s words, was, ‘a new human species who makes sense of the world in the presence of the risen Jesus at his table’. This thesis will seek to define what is specifically meant by the term Homo Eucharisticus and to indicate that, in a very real sense, Dix is Homo Eucharisticus, understood in his life, vocation, and his primary scholarship as it is centred on The Shape of the Liturgy. I shall demonstrate that Dix’s theology was Incarnational and that his Trinitarian understanding was based on the precept of a ‘Spiritual-Logos’. I shall examine these concepts in the context of Dix’s experience and personality. I shall assess the historical, intellectual and theological influences that helped to shape his life and vocation, and explore his Anglican identity as a priest, a scholar and a member of a religious community. I shall explain Dix’s creative understanding of the Trinitarian nature of the Eucharist and determine that he was a noteworthy theologian of major significance. I shall include studies of his writings on the Ministry of the Church and his major liturgical works The Apostolic Tradition of Saint Hippolytus and The Shape of the Liturgy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Relation of Penitence to Oblation in the Eucharistic Offertory by Cyril H
    The Relation of Penitence to Oblation in the Eucharistic Offertory By Cyril H. Powles. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree Bachelor of Sacred Theology, University of Trinity College, 1954. Transcribed by Richard J. Mammana in 2014 from a copy provided by the Right Reverend Dr. Terry M. Brown. “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil?”—Malachi 1:7 “So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”—Matthew 5:23, 24 “On the Lord’s own day, assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure.”—Didache, par. 14 Introduction ONE OF the significant movements in twentieth century theological circles has been the renewal of interest in the theology of sacrifice, “the creature giving itself and reaching God in a great impact in which our deepest needs are satisfied.”1 This movement has influenced the study of the New Testament and Christology; it has led to an interesting literature on the anthropological origins of sacrifice; but above all it has led to new glimpses of the possibility of agreement between the scattered bodies of Christendom, through a redefinition of some of the thorniest problems besetting the controversies of the Reformation; namely, the problem that the connection between our Lord’s sacrifice on Calvary and the anamnesis of His sacrifice in the Holy Eucharist.
    [Show full text]
  • Benedictines and Methodists in Liturgical Renewal: Currents and Cross-Currents
    BENEDICTINES AND METHODISTS IN LITURGICAL RENEWAL: CURRENTS AND CROSS-CURRENTS KAREN B. WESTERFIELD TUCKER WORSHIP AND SANCTIFICATION: BENEDICTINE AND METHODIST In the motu proprio Tra le solledtudini issued by Pope Pius X on November 22, 1903 and written to provide guiding principles on sacred music, the purpose of the Church's worship was defined as being for "the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful."' This same definition substantially reappears in later Catholic statements, most notably in Pope Pius Xll's 1947 encyclical letter on wor- ship, Mediator Dei, and in the 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Saavsanctum Condlium) of Vatican II. The twofold assertion that worship is simultaneously doxol- ogy and formation constitutes in the latter document the hinge-pin upon which move the liturgical reforms issued after Vatican 11. The relationship between praise of God and sanctification was explored by several Catholic writers in the early twentieth century. The Benedictine Dom Lambert Beaudoin, in his 1914 booklet Lil piete liturgique, discusses these aspects of the liturgy by building directly upon the perspective formulated in the l 903 motu proprio. Regarding the glorification of God, the liturgy is latreutic: adoration, with all the modalities that the attitude of soul includes, dominates the worship of the Church, in contrast with private worship, which easily becomes focused on the self. Regarding human sanctification, the liturgy is didactic: for without Karen B. Westerfield Tucker is an assistant professor of h"turgical studies at The Divinity School, Duke University, in Durham, N.C. THE ASBURY TuEOLOGICALjOVRNAL FALL 1995, VOL.
    [Show full text]
  • Contents EDITORIAL: BRICKS and MORTAR Page 2
    Contents EDITORIAL: BRICKS AND MORTAR page 2 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AS TEXT 6 Samuel L. Bray RELATIVISM AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN CHURCH SCHOOLS 19 Thomas Plant SEVEN WHOLE DAYS, NOT ONE IN SEVEN 30 Eric Woods ELIZABETHAN ENIGMA: MUSIC AND REFORMATION IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 43 Jeremy Haselock LEARNING AGAIN TO SING IN A FOREIGN LAND: THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND DOMESTIC PIETY 55 Philip Turner and Ephraim Radner LETTER 61 BRANCHES AND BRANCH CONTACTS 62 1 Editorial: Bricks and Mortar he Coronavirus outbreak and ensuing lockdown and closure of churches have given rise to a number of different questions—how Timportant are church buildings? Is this a golden opportunity to get rid of these millstones and realise anew that the Church is not bricks and mortar but the people of God? Is the ‘virtual’ space provided by a live-steamed or Zoom service more welcoming, and more in tune with the age, than the traditional space provided by churches? And if so may it not also make possible consecration by remote means of bread and wine placed in all or any of the locations occupied by the participants? These, together with more traditional theological differences as to the propriety of solitary Eucharists (whether ‘live-streamed’ or not), have in common a concern with how Christians should be present to one another as a body, and how that presence is related to actual physical settings. Christianity is an ‘historical’ faith in the sense that it derives from, and keeps ever before it, certain events which took place in particular places at particular times, concerning one who, being God, took flesh as a particular human being.
    [Show full text]
  • Rick Warren Meets Gregory Dix: the Liturgical Movement Comes Knocking at the Megachurch Door
    ATR/92:3 Rick Warren Meets Gregory Dix: The Liturgical Movement Comes Knocking at the Megachurch Door Patrick Malloy* The movement commonly called “the emerging church” arose out of the evangelical megachurches, where members—especially younger members—increasingly sought an affective, symbolic, and non-dogmatic style of worship. The emerging church arises out of postmodernism’s suspicion of truth claims and its trust in experience. This has led to a liturgical style that embraces experi- ence but, as some within the movement acknowledge, lacks theo- logical grounding. As they have turned to the early church for models of authentic common prayer, emergent Christians are building a liturgical style that is often described as “ancient- modern.” Episcopalians, like emergent Christians, value enacted over confessional theology yet claim a theological tradition that situates the liturgy within what Phyllis Tickle calls “a grand fram- ing story.” An “ecumenical” conversation with emergence holds great promise, will happen primarily at the parochial level, and will require Episcopalians, especially clergy, to be not only rooted in the great sweep of the Christian Tradition but also open to the insights of postmodernism. America’s Critique of Liturgical Renewal By the mid-1980s, liturgists had begun to question and even to doubt the ability of modern Americans to celebrate the liturgy. For more than a century, an international, interdenominational coalition had clung to a hope not just that the liturgy would be reinvigorated, but that a reinvigorated liturgy would inevitably reinvigorate the church. It seemed by the 1980s that both assumptions had been naive. In every * Patrick Malloy is Associate Professor in the H.
    [Show full text]
  • Explaining the Eucharist (X): the Offertory
    Explaining the Eucharist (X): The Offertory The Mass cannot be understood without the notion of sacrifice and offering. So before we can explore the parts of the Mass which follow the sign of peace, we must study the concept of “sacrifice”, which is not an easy one because it raises many difficult questions. Did Jesus come so that He could suffer the most shameful and painful death? Did His passion and death please the loving Father (all that pain and blood to satisfy God)? Did the Father put our sins on His innocent Son so that He could punish Him and crush Him together with our sins? And how is the Mass a sacrifice? Are we perpetuating the horrors of Calvary? And how can we say we benefit from it? The main problem is that our concept of sacrifice is negative: in everyday language it means giving up, losing something valuable. But in the Bible sacrifice is simply how we satisfy our four principal duties towards God. Since God created us, He is our sovereign Lord to whom we owe everything. What we are and what we have is all His. The first and the highest duty of man, therefore, is to hand ourselves over, to surrender to God. We go before Him and say to Him: here I am, all Thine. And this is what we properly call latreia or adoration: “the supreme act of worship allowed to God alone.” But it is our nature to express ourselves in a “tangible” way. Just think about what happens when you love somebody.
    [Show full text]
  • "Do This in Remembrance of Me'... but What Do We Do?" Anvil 17.4
    247 COLIN BUCHANAN 'Do this in remembrance of me' ... but what do we do? What do we mean when we say that we are obeying Christ's command in the eucharist? Colin Buchanan assesses the debates which have surrounded this question in the process of liturgical revision in the Church of England, and draws out their continuing theological significance. This article is a version of the second Michael Richard Vasey Memorial Lecture at St John's College Durham, delivered earlier this year. 1 I joined the Liturgical Commission thirty-six years ago next month, which means that I stand now at the same distance from that surprising invitation to me by Michael Ramsey as that date was itself distant from the 1928 parliamentary debacle. In July 1964 the Church Assembly voted for the Prayer Book (Alternative and Other Services) Measure, and so I arrived at the very threshold of the new era of alternative services. The Measure duly went through Parliament in March 1965, and was to come into force on a date to be named by the two Archbishops, and they duly plumped for 1 May 1966. So on 10 May 1966 I sat in the gallery of Church House as the joint Convocations debated the first round of alternative services, Michael Vasey died on 29 June 1998, and Services, has been out of print, but it has an this annual lecture at St John's Durham was element of being a kind of mini-shrine to his endowed in memory of him. The lecture I memory. For. published in January 1998, gave on 11 May 2000 has been considerably and actually being the last work published edited for publication here.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Shakespeare 1800-1899 Chronology
    1 Post-Shakespeare Chronology 1800-1899 History of Shakespeare-Catholic/Protestant interpretations, with some notice of significant events in Protestant/Catholic relations (small print). Including American Contexts Continental Contexts Irish Contexts Home Page: Shakespeare and Religion Chronology by Dennis Taylor, Boston College Unedited notes, Revised March 2013 **1800** John Milner’s Letters to a Prebendary, defending against Protestant attack, astonished readers by its erudition; compared Elizabeth to Emperor Julian’s deadly “benevolence;” defended Catholic loyalty despite the Bull; tried to correct partial Catholic and Protestant perspectives. Friedrich Schiller, Mary Stuart romanticizing the passionate Catholic princess (against the repressed Elizabeth), same year that Schiller translated Macbeth. Act of Union creates a “United Kingdom” of Britain and Ireland (conceded to by Irish Protestants, as only protection against Catholic hordes) (later to be called “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”) (see 1707, Act of Union). But “Britain” continues to be thought of, as consisting of England, Wales, Scotland. Union with Ireland made “the Parliament at Westminster … directly responsible for Irish affairs”, thus “Either the establishment of the Church of England must be modified, or the union must be ended and home rule given to Ireland,” a problem that eventuated in 1828 emancipation (Pitt initially promised Catholic emancipation but reneged). (Chadwick, Victorian Church). King George refuses emancipation of Catholics, to keep them out of Parliament, and so Pitt resigns temporarily. Abortive romanticized Dublin uprising of Robert Emmet (Protestant) in 1803. Great majority of Catholics now tenants, but a new Catholic middle class emerging, Cathlics admitted to Trinity. **1801** Concordat with the Pope by Napoleon, prototype of future concordats.
    [Show full text]
  • Gregory Dix - the Liturgical Bequest
    Gregory Dix - The liturgical Bequest Colin Buchanan 2001 sees the centenary of the birth of Gregory Dix, one of the most famous Anglican authors of the twentieth century, one whose person and writings have haunted me personally, even though he died only halfway through his century, when I was still at school. Perhaps the fairly recent biography of him has increased that sense of his breathing down my neck, for page 7 records that he was born at ... Woolwich! 1 But of course he died young- at merely 50. Twelve years later, in 1964, I joined a Liturgical Commission composed largely of Dix's contemporaries, and, as I discovered, reflecting much of the anglo-catholicism of his times, and quite a few of his actual findings. It is not necessary here to reflect at length on his character, not because it is irrelevant, but because it came in such bold colours as to be fairly available at sight- I read him as a kind of combination of Denis Skinner and Tony Benn, with the love of outraging of the former, and the unshaken confidence in his findings of the latter, and the holding to a sweepingly extreme position with the tenacity, humour and a flair for propaganda of both. His scholarship in his own field may have outstripped these worthies in theirs, and certainly he won (and keeps going today) a worldwide army of scholars and students of liturgy to wrestle with his writings. And he irresistibly reminds me of my ancient history tutor of my Oxford days, whose dictum was 'Make your sources work for you' - a strictly unethical commendation of a process of positing a conclusion first, and then organizing the evidence to lead to it.
    [Show full text]