From Page-to-Page Proclamation: Interpreting Scripture in the Context of Liturgy
By: Clare Schwantes
Who’s it for?
Written by a Roman Catholic liturgical scholar and primarily addressing the Catholic Mass, this book nevertheless is informative for Protestants who preach, plan and lead worship, teach practical theology, and seek as laity to know more about the relationship between lectionary and liturgical calendar. For people who wonder about the selection of texts, Clare Schwantes explains the rationale for tying Old and New Testaments together imagistically as well as considerations about appropriate readings for public consumption and complexities in biblical content, explaining how the omissions and inclusions were decided.
What’s the main point?
Schwantes validates preaching as a dialogue between scripture as the preacher hears it and context as the preacher interprets it, contending that the liturgy and lectionary influence the interpretation of scripture. She focuses, in turn, on descriptive, historical, systematic, and practical theologies.
Why is this book important?
She places questions about the meaning of liturgy and preaching into critical dialogue with Gadamer’s fusion of horizons. Especially in a time when churches have seen a proliferation of orders of worship that eschew the liturgical calendar and the lectionary that grew out of the renewing work of Vatican II, this book shows the depth available to preachers and worshippers when the ground is laid by the tradition’s centuries of grappling with God’s word.
What will get you (the reader) thinking?
The author cites many of the most influential theologians whose work relates to the preached word from Augustine and Ambrose, Lindbeck and Bakhtin, and more. Curiously missing is the important work on liturgical language by Gail Ramshaw. Happily, however, Schwantes includes the ground-breaking work of Danish homiletician Marianne Gaarden. Gaarden has studied how listeners “hearing” a sermon demonstrates that listeners construct faith (a Third Room) out of the building tools of the preacher’s words and the listener’s experiences.
In the pastoral theologies portion, Schwantes notes the “lack of Lectionary pericopes which express doubt, accusation, pain, and lament” (201). Is that true? Or is this a result of omitting the psalms which are full of all these difficult but real emotions?
Kudos.
For those who love the liturgical pattern that has guided the lectionary choices, this is a clear, fairly complete –– while also brief –– history of readings for worship.
Even in her quibbles, however, Schwantes is generous. Concerned that the pericopes from Paul’s writings fail to include context, she gives the example of the Maundy Thursday reading that omits Jesus’ command to feed the hungry and his admonition to eat the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner, thus giving ethical dimension to what can, otherwise, become a privatized sacrament. That specificity makes this both an interesting and a helpful book.
Clare Schwantes. From Page to Proclamation: Interpreting Scripture in the Context of Liturgy. Pickwick Publications, 2024. 255 pages. ISBN: 9798385220267
REVIEWER: The Rev. Melinda A. Quivik, PhD
The Rev. Melinda Quivik, PhD, a pastor in the ELCA and former seminary professor of worship and preaching, writes, edits, and gives workshops and lectures on worship and preaching.
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