The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Month: November 2016
Review: Central Things: Worship in Word and Sacrament
Central Things: Worship in Word and Sacrament by Gordon W. Lathrop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very engaging and accessible book that looks, as the title suggests, the central things of Christian worship: the Word, preaching, blessing, thanksgiving, baptism, intercession, and a whole range of other things. Each of the very short chapters covers in admirable detail some of these central things and the way they are connected to the others, drawing on the author’s clear scholarship, good resources, and much pastoral praxis.
Highly recommended to those who are interested in matters liturgical, who are open to learning from sources outside their own particular denominational traditions, and who might be wanting to give some thought to the central things that make Christian Worship Christian worship.
Misleading Worship
The word worship can…mislead us. The word can sound as if the praise we give to God is the heart of the matter, as if we call this event a service because we are giving service to God. The service, rather, is first of all a service God renders to any and all who come. Everything is turned on its head. It is not just “worship.” It is “worship in word and sacrament,” worship with the giving away of the leaves and the fruit of the tree of life at its center. In astonishing mercy, God uses our assembly, our words, our actions with water, bread and wine, our place and our time, as the means of the presence of those leaves and this fruit.
Gordon W. Lathrop, Central Things: Worship in Word and Sacrament (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2005), p. 21. ISBN: 978-0-8066-5163-7.
In Search of Healthy Christian Worship
Healthy Christian worship must always share [a passion for the gospel and for the “outsider”]. But communal actions are not just neutral, capable of bearing any idea. If a Christian worship is, say, much like television entertainment in its format and style, one must seriously question whether any idea of God’s grace, which might indeed be mentioned in the talk of the leader or in the song of the musical group, will be communicated. Or, if a congregation sets out to church-shoppers a “menu” of “worship opportunities,” distinguished on the basis of style preference, one must seriously question whether anything other and style and choice will finally come across. In such cases, we have to wonder whether any idea will be heard as strong as will the values of the entertainment industry: the values of celebrity, or a marketing response to human needs, and of our ability to choose between the things the show is offering us.
Gordon W. Lathrop, Central Things: Worship in Word and Sacrament (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2005), pp. 11-12. ISBN: 978-0-8066-51637
Review: The Raven In The Foregate
The Raven In The Foregate by Ellis Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Review: Sacraments: Revelation of the Humanity of God: Engaging the Fundamental Theology of Louis-Marie Chauvet
Sacraments: Revelation of the Humanity of God: Engaging the Fundamental Theology of Louis-Marie Chauvet by Philippe Bordeyne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Those who have read anything by Louis-Marie Chauvet know just how insightful and influential his thinking has been in the area of liturgical and sacramental theology – and other fields of the theological sciences.
This book, a collection of essays written by some of the finest sacramental theologians in Europe and the United States, explores and opens the riches of Chauvet’s contribution to theology, exploring a range of themes and areas of that work in order to expose the English-speaking world (Chauvet being a Frenchman as his name might suggest) to the complexity and power of arguably one of the finest sacramental theologians of the contemporary church.
In ways that are similar to Chauvet – one might argue deliberately so to render due honour to his work – these essays are not always easy to read and grasp, but persistence and perseverance make the task a worthwhile exercise for those truly interested in Chauvet’s work, or in sacramental and liturgical theology.
From the back cover:
This volume is a first-ever companion to the intellectually and pastorally stimulating work of Louis-Marie Chauvet, one of the most important systematic theologians of liturgy and sacraments in recent times. In this transatlantic venture, pairs of leading thinkers continue the development of sacramental-liturgical theology along six lines of Chauvet’s thought: fundamental theology, Scripture and sacrament, ecclesiology, liturgy and ethics, theology and the social sciences, and the theological anthropology of symbolism. Embracing his constant attention to faith’s actual practice in history, these francophone and anglophone authors test numerous of Chauvet’s insights in the face of new challenges for the church and world, the ongoing mediation of the “humanity of God” revealed in the crucified and risen Christ.
Louis-Marie Chauvet retired in 2008 from the faculty of theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris, while continuing his work as pastor of Saint-Leu-la-Foret in the Diocese of Pontoise, just outside Paris. He is author of Symbol and Sacrament: A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Existence and The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body, both published by Liturgical Press.
Review: An Excellent Mystery
An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
