Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology by Gordon W. Lathrop My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed this book and found the central thesis of Lathrop both compelling and challenging. In seeking to put forward a foundational liturgical theology, Lathrop goes back to the liturgical ordo, the basic pattern of Christian liturgy, and seeks to… Continue reading Review: Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology
Month: February 2017
Perceiving Liturgical Meaning
To perceive the meaning of the liturgy does not require that one read a book of liturgical theology. It does require that one experience the juxtapositions of the liturgy in all their strength. Any participant in the assembly should, on some level, be drawn into the experience of meeting set next to week, of texts… Continue reading Perceiving Liturgical Meaning
The Power of Sacred Words
The book serves as a vessel, like the cup to the wine. It serves to enthrone and hold forth the truly central symbol, like the linen to the food. The primary symbol is the speaking out of the words themselves. That such discourse - prayers, readings, songs, dialogues, sermons, words for the bath, words for… Continue reading The Power of Sacred Words
The Liturgy Must Change
The rite of the Mass is to be revised in such a way that the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as also the connection between them, may be more clearly manifested, and that devout and active participation by the faithful may be more easily achieved. For this purpose the rites are to… Continue reading The Liturgy Must Change
Thanksgiving and Lament
Thanksgiving alone might be misunderstood to be an acceptance of the status quo, as if the truly religious heart would rise above all actual material suffering to perceive some unearthly religious meaning and so to praise God for all conditions and realities, as if there were no need of God's promise or God's future. Lament… Continue reading Thanksgiving and Lament
Review: The New Scapegoats: The Clergy Victims of the Anglican Church Sexual Abuse Crisis
The New Scapegoats: The clergy victims of the Anglican Church sexual abuse crisis by Muriel Porter My rating: 4 of 5 stars Crimes committed against children are, of their nature, particularly heinous in the pantheon of violent crimes. There can never be an excuse for an adult, no matter what 'excuse' they might proffer, for… Continue reading Review: The New Scapegoats: The Clergy Victims of the Anglican Church Sexual Abuse Crisis
Review: Ragnarok
Ragnarok by Christopher Nuttall My rating: 3 of 5 stars A satisfactory conclusion to the Twilight of the Gods series, with a few shocks along the way to what would be considered the expected outcome. The ongoing struggle between two separate parts of the Greater German Empire has devolved into madness and nuclear war, while… Continue reading Review: Ragnarok
Fake News The True Enemy
The advent of the "Fake News" phenomenon that has flourished recently is a very distressing development in the field of public discourse, regardless of particularly topic. The phenomenon has, one suspects, been around much longer, perhaps for as long as the Internet has been in existence, but it has truly become a 'thing' since the… Continue reading Fake News The True Enemy
Review: Chosen of the Valkyries
Chosen of the Valkyries by Christopher Nuttall My rating: 3 of 5 stars Book Two of the Twilight of the Gods series picks up immediately from where the first book finished. The Greater German Empire has been torn apart by internal strife, and civil war breaks out (I'll say no more - you'll have to… Continue reading Review: Chosen of the Valkyries
The Scripture in the Assembly
The liturgical intention [of proclaiming from the Bible during the week assembly of the community] has been that these texts speak to us now not just of ourselves and our history, but of grace, of God's action, of a new thing not yet imagined. The liturgical purpose is for something to happen in the use… Continue reading The Scripture in the Assembly
A Primary Theology
The meaning of the liturgy resides first of all in the liturgy itself. If the gathering has a meaning for us, if it says an authentic thing about God and our world - indeed, if it brings us face to face with God - then that becomes known while we are participating in the gathering.… Continue reading A Primary Theology
Review: Dark Fire
Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the second book in the Matthew Shardlake series of novels and is set chronologically some few years after the first in the series. All the religious houses have now been dissolved and the lands and buildings of the monasteries have been destroyed… Continue reading Review: Dark Fire
Review: The Sacraments: Historical Foundations and Liturgical Theology
The Sacraments: Historical Foundations and Liturgical Theology by Kevin W. Irwin My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is the most profound and insightful book on the Sacraments that I have read in a very long time. I suspect this is because the author treats the sacramental of the church not via the more traditional… Continue reading Review: The Sacraments: Historical Foundations and Liturgical Theology
Sacramental Ambiguity
...there is an inherent ambiguity in the doctrine of sacramentality in that the use of things from creation can be both positive and negative at the same time. We use water in baptism to signify a number of things about life and vitality. The only element, except air, without which we cannot live is water.… Continue reading Sacramental Ambiguity
A Sacramental Worldview
Sacramentality is a worldview, a way of looking at life, a way of thinking and acting in the world that values and reveres the world. Sacramentality acts as a prism, a theological lens through which we view creation and all that is on this good earth as revelations of God's presence and action among us… Continue reading A Sacramental Worldview
