NAAL in Vancouver II

The North American Academy of Liturgy is completing its 2018 meeting in Vancouver.

At the Business Meeting today, led by President Jennifer Lord, 15 new members were voted in. It was reported that 20 were accepted as Visitors, with 16 of these actually able to attend the meeting. (A person attends as a Visitor at two meetings before applying for full membership.)

Vice President Melinda Quivik now begins her term as President. Bruce Morrill, SJ, was elected Vice President, which means he will be President in a year.

For your interest and perusal, here is a completion of the report on what was presented in the seminars this year.

Exploring Contemporary and Alternative Worship

• Lester Ruth, “The WFX Technology Conference with Implications for Contemporary/Modern Worship”
• Eric Mathis, “Youth Sunday Every Sunday? Reflections on Teenagers as Worshipers and Worship Leaders”
• “Liturgical Biographies at Hillsong New York City: Data and/or Theology?” Taylor Burton-Edwards, “Pronouns and Titles Addressing God in the 2017 CCLI Top 100”

Feminist Studies in Liturgy

• Elizabeth Sue Moore, et.al: Liturgies of Lament
• Rituals of Protest – group contributions
• Beth A. Richardson and Marcia McFee – Irish Pilgrimage and Liturgical Accompaniment
• Ran Kim-Cragg – First Nations of Vancouver (and Closing Ritual)

Historical Research: 16th Century to Present

• Martin Connell, Book Discussion, Teresa Berger and Bryan Spinks, eds., Liturgy’s Imagined Past/s: Methodologies and Materials in the Writing of Liturgical History Today
• Hwarang Moon, “Martin Bucer’s Liturgical Theology in Gurnd and Ursach and its Application to the Korean Presbyterian Church”
• Katharine Mahon, “Patterns of Private Prayer in Sixteenth Century Reforms of Lay Liturgical Participation”
• Jonathan Riches, “Evangelical Liturgical Awakening”
• Shawn Strout “An Introduction to a Liturgical Theology of the Offertory Rites as Practiced by Churches of the Anglican Communion”
• Martin Connell “Elizabeth Bishop’s Baptism”
• Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero “Digital Theology at the End of the Life Cycle: Implications for the Ars Moriendi Tradition”
• Discussion, potential name change for Historical Research seminar

Issues in Medieval Liturgy

• Barbara Haggh-Huglo, “Cluny and Ghent”
• Discussion, with race/otherness in the medieval period
• Michael Witczak, “Comparing Missals” (private prayers of priest in 1580, 1962, now)
• Joanne Pierce, Historical perspectives on reconciliation
• Discussion, evolving trends in the study of medieval liturgy: emergence of social history, and the great work done by musicologists, and the relative paucity of work being done by those from a more theologically-based starting point.

Liturgical Hermeneutics

• David Hogue, Discussion of Mark Johnson, The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding
• Bruce Hiebert, “The Christian Community: Enacted between memory and hope”
• Michelle Whitlock, “One performance, infinite rehearsals: Redefining the Performance of Liturgy”
• Michelle Baker-Wright, “Music, Ritual, Immediacy, and Memory: Exploring the Intersections”
• Sonja Pilz, “Praying in strange spaces – hybrid Jewish sacred spaces in New York City”
• Marit Rong, “Pilgrimage as Individual and Communal Worship”
• Allie Utley, “Affect Theory and the Study of Liturgy”

Liturgical Language

• Gail Ramshaw, “Four Principles of Liturgical Language”
• Rhodora Beaton, “Language, Song, and the Senses: Liturgical Living in Light of Chauvet”
• Judith Kubicki, “What’s in a Name? How Do We Name God? How Do We Name Ourselves?”
• David Gambrell, “Liturgical Language in the 2018 Book of Worship—PC(USA)”
• Jennifer Baker-Trinity, Prayers connected to the proposed ELCA Social Statement on Women and Justice
• Discussion, Gail Ramshaw, Pray, Praise, and Give Thanks: A Collection of Litanies, Laments, and Thanksgivings at Font and Table (Joint with Ecology & Liturgy Seminar and Eucharistic Prayer & Theology) – prepared reflections from David Gambrelli (Liturgical Language), and from representatives from Ecology & Liturgy and Eucharistic Prayer & Theology
• Stephen Shaver, “Metaphors of Eucharistic Presence”

Liturgical Music

• Kim Harris, “Sr. Thea Bowman: Liturgical Justice through Black Sacred Song”
• Michael O’Connor, “A Performance of Love: Music and Liturgical Imagination”
• Jason McFarland, “Music in Liturgical Studies”
• Mikie Roberts “A Survey of Caribbean Hymnody
• Steve Janco, “The Healing Potential of Music as Ritual Symbol”
• Troy Messenger, “Instrumental Music in Times of Crisis”

Liturgical Theology

• William Johnston, discussion of Romano Guardini, The Spirit of the Liturgy
• Judith Kubicki, discussion of Jennifer McBride, Radical Discipleship
• Discussion of Jan Rippentrop, Eschatological Liturgical Theology: Addressing the Whole Drama of the Christian Life and the Connection to Social Transformation
• Discussion of Melanie Ross, Evangelical Worship: An American Mosaic
• Discussion of Joris Geldhof, The 2002 Order of Mass: Incentives for Liturgical Theology
• Discussion of John Krueger, Singing the Sacrament: Martin Luther’s Communion Hymns

Liturgy and Comparative Theology Seminar (new in 2018)

• James Farwell, moderator, Introductions, initial sketch of definitions and issues
• Discussion of Maria Reis Habito, “Bowing Before Buddha and Allah? Reflections on Crossing Over Ritual Boundaries,” in Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue
• Ruth Langer, “Anamnesis in Jewish Liturgy: Themes of Exile and Their Implications”
• Claudio Carvalhaes, “Praying Each Other’s Prayers”
• James Farwell, “Jesus Meets Dōgen Meets Jesus: Gestures toward a Comparative Sacramental Theology”

Problems in the History of Liturgy

• Ruth Langer, “Rabbinic Prayer and the Popular Synagogue”
• Harald Buchinger, encyclopedic entries: “Liturgy,” “Greek and Latin Patristics,” “Liturgical Books”
• Vitaly Permiakov and Daniel Galadza “Rites without Rubrics: Aspects of the Celebration of the Liturgy of St. James in Antiquity and Its Modern Reception”
• Mark Schuler, “A Chalcedonian Move? Sixth-Century Modifications to the Churches of Hippos Palaistinēs”
• Ramez Mikhail, “Increasing Clericalization in the Coptic Liturgy. The Case of the Prothesis”
• Charles Cosgrove, “Women’s Unbound Hair in Ancient Christian Baptism”
• Liborius Lumma, “What do we know about the Compline Psalms in the Rule of the Master?”
• Anne McGowan, “Principles and Practices of Early Liturgy: An Orientation for Students”
• Dominic Serra, “Baptismal Fonts of Rome and the Suburbicarian Sees”
• James Sabak, “Impeding the Body – Dynamic: Restrictions on the Manner of Celebrating Martyrs’ Vigils in Ancient Roman Practice
• Marie-Ange Rakotoniaina, “The Baptism of Clovis or the Geopolitics of Liturgy”
• Stefanos Alexopoulos, “Beinecke 1155 and the Introductory Material of the Office of Holy Communion”

Queering Liturgy (new in 2018)

• Sharon Fennema, Chapter(s) from “A Queer Liturgy Primer”
• Bryan Cones, work(s) in progress
• Scott Haldeman, “What is Queer about a Same-Sex Wedding?”
• Discussion, How do we survive – in unfriendly institutions – as queer scholars and as allies?

On the Way (new in 2018)

• Initial discussion of Declaration on the Way
• Paul Westermeyer and Virgil Funk, Two Church Musicians Reflect on Full Communion Issues
• Bruce Morrill and Gordon Lathrop, On Eucharistic sacrifice
• Ben Durheim, “Sacramental Ethics and Ecumenism”
• John Baldovin, “North American Lutheran Eucharistic Praying”
• Jennifer Lord and Neil Alexander, Reformed and Episcopalian Responses

Word in Worship

• Amy Schifrin, “Rhetoric and Rituals of Fascism”
• Mike Pasquarello, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Confessing the Gospel as Protest”
• Rich Voelz, “The Tongue of a Teacher: The Preacher as Transformational/Public Intellectual via Critical Pedagogy”
• Andrew Wymer, “Learning to Toss the Pulpit: A Homiletical Engagement of White and Black Rage”
• Tim Lietzke, “Dancing In the Streets: Perichoresis and the Connection of Luther’s Homiletic to Social Action”