Summary of the October 2022 issue of Worship
Worship is a peer-reviewed, international ecumenical journal for the study of liturgy and liturgical renewal. Founded in 1926 by Virgil Michel, OSB, and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey, Worship is published quarterly in Collegeville, Minnesota. Subscribe to Worship here.
THE AMEN CORNER
The Fijian Meal Tradition: An Invitation to Liturgical Inculturation
Iosefo Lui and Carmel Pilcher
ESSAYS
Liturgy and Ethics: New Prospects for Ecumenical Partners
Drenda Butler and Conor M. Kelly
Recognizing the importance of liturgy as a resource for ecumenical dialogue, this article proposes an avenue for advancing conversations between traditions with disparate liturgical practices. Building on the shared assumption that liturgy should have an effect on those who worship, the article examines the nexus between liturgy and ethics in the Pentecostal and Roman Catholic traditions and demonstrates how ecumenical discourse about these links can strengthen the liturgical practice of each dialogue partner. The article then provides concrete practices each tradition can embrace to honor the others’ insights, illustrating the potential power of a new approach to ecumenical engagement through liturgical theology.
The Church on Parker’s Back: A Primer in Theologia Prima for the “Nones”
Andrew J. Summerson
The concept of theologia prima considers liturgy as the primary locus for direct, experiential apprehension of theology and, as such, presumes both the regular participation in ritual and receptivity based on a lived faith. Nevertheless, translation of firsthand theologia prima is necessary for the rising demographic of religiously unaffiliated. I argue that Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Parker’s Back” works as a liturgical parable, whereby the unbelieving protagonist is brought to faith through a series of paraliturgical epiphanies. Through a close reading of the story in conversation with liturgical theologians Robert F. Taft, Jean Corbon, and David Fagerberg, I show how “Parker’s Back” articulates theologia prima outside of the explicit context of ritual worship and is a heuristic tool to explore liturgy with a-liturgical “nones.”
For God’s Joy: Autistic Persons and the Role of Music in Public Worship
Armand Léon Van Ommen and Zoe Strong
Through ten interviews with autistic individuals, this article considers the role of music for autistic worshippers in engaging with the worship service, and more broadly, their own spirituality. Moreover, this article highlights what autism may be able to teach the Christian community about music in places of public worship.
An Architecture of Pardon and Consolation: Embodying the Meaning of Pope Francis’s Recent “Year of Mercy” in the Language of Brick and Mortar
Michael E. Desanctis
This essay presents a historical and theological framework for assessing whether Catholic places of worship embody in an explicit way the limitless mercy of God that inspired Pope Francis to convoke in 2015 a “Jubilee Year of Mercy” for the Church. By means of select, architectural examples, it also offers evidence of how some Catholic communities in the United States, at least, have fashioned liturgical settings for themselves that, in the words of Pope Francis, “. . . give witness to a love that surpasses [even] justice, a love that knows no boundaries” (Homily, Mass for Opening of the Holy Door, St. John the Lateran, December 13, 2015).
BOOK REVIEWS
Gordon Lathrop reviews Paul Louis Metzger, Setting the Spiritual Clock: Sacred Time Breaking Through the Secular Eclipse (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2020). 290 + xiii pages. $32.00. ISBN: 9781725258709.
Arman Gregory Shokhikyan reviews Michael Papazian, The Doctor of Mercy: The Sacred Treasures of St. Gregory of Narek (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2019). 254 pages. $49.95. ISBN: 9780814685013.
Guerric Debona, OSB, reviews Ronald J. Allen, I Will Tell You the Mystery: A Commentary for Preaching from the Book of Revelation (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2019). 229 pages. $32.00. ISBN: 9781498225915.
Richard Gaillardetz reviews Rafael Luciani, Synodality: A New Way of Proceeding in the Church (New York/Mahweh: Paulist Press, 2022). 188 pages. $18.95. ISBN: 9780809156115.
Paul Turner reviews Richard S. Vosko, Art and Architecture for Congregational Worship: The Search for a Common Ground (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2019). xi + 236 pages. $29.95. ISBN: 9780814684719.
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