Excerpt from
Primary Sources of Liturgical Theology
A Reader
Dwight W. Vogel, Editor
© The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced by any means, without the written permission of The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.
CONTENTS
Preface
List of Contributors
1. What Is Liturgical Theology?
2. What Is Liturgy?
3. How Can We "Do Liturgical Theology?
4. How Are Theology and Liturgy Related?
5. How Does Liturgy Embody Theological Themes?
6. What Is the Theological Function of Liturgical Language and Ritual?
7. What Is the Role of the Word in Liturgy?
8. How Do Liturgical Theologians Engage Cultural Diversity?
9. How Are Liturgy and Life Related?
Liturgy and Ethics
Alphabetical Index of Primary Contributors
Chronological Index of Primary Contributions
Preface
Teaching graduate seminars in liturgical theology constantly confronts me with a vast treasury of resources. While I want my students to "dig deep" in their reading, I also want them to develop a sense of the broad range of writings available to them through firsthand encounter with primary sources. In this book, I seek to meet that need.
Several apologies are in order. The first is to my colleagues in the field. None of us will be satisfied with what is here. All of us will identify crucial omissions of seminal contributors to liturgical theology, among them Lambert Beauduin, Louis Bouyer, John Burkhart, Jean Daniélou, Peter Fink, A. G. Hebert, Catherine Mowry LaCugna, and Cyrian Vagaggini. And that does not include the work of persons such as Paul Bradshaw, Nathan Mitchell, Josef Jungmann, and James White, whose contributions to liturgical studies have important implications for liturgical theology. The limitations of length, gently but firmly enforced by the publisher in order to keep this book economically accessible for students, has been a real struggle.
The result may be thought of as a "tasting party" of resources, which brings me to my second apology, this time to the writers (living and dead) whose work is included here. These excerpts are often taken out of their total context (although the introductions seek to provide some sense of that context), and there are parts of the text that have been deleted (although I have sought to maintain the integrity of each entry in the process). Readers should note the omissions signaled by an ellipsis ( ... ) in the case of material omitted within a paragraph or asterisks (* * *) in the case of the omission of a paragraph or more. What is left will, I hope, provide a glimpse of the profound contributions made by each writer. The serious student will find the suggestions "for further reading" indispensable, and anyone undertaking an in-depth study of the scholar's work will need to read the original work in its entirety.
A third apology concerns the lack of inclusive or expansive language in some of these articles. For those of us who have a deep commitment to the use of such language, the preponderance of male nouns, pronouns, and images for humanity and for God is deeply disturbing. Yet this reader includes material from early in the century when there was little sensitivity in this area, as well as material from writers who are insistent about the use of traditional trinitarian language. The reader will note that all the material written directly for this volume reflects my commitment to inclusive and expansive language. Readers are encouraged to have compassion for earlier writers and mentally translate the language used so they can appropriate the meaning beyond and behind the language. These apologies are balanced by expressions of gratitude. First and foremost, I give thanks to God for my colleagues in the liturgical theology seminar of the North American Academy of Liturgy, whose wisdom, support, and friendship are grace to me. I have sought to do this work on your behalf. Without your direct contributions to it, it could not have been birthed. There is a sense of collegiality in the seminar that treats presentations of graduate students and junior scholars with as much respect and affirmation as those made by "giants" in the field, whose presence as peers is a source of joy. My thanks to all those who have written the introduction/commentaries, which are an essential part of this reader: graduate students, junior scholars, and senior mentors in the field. Often this work is across "confessional" lines, a mark of the ecumenical nature of the dialogue in liturgical theology.
I have arranged the articles around nine seminal questions that students of liturgical theology need to engage, an approach suggested to me by my students at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. However, I expect that my colleagues will rearrange these entries in ways that meet their own pedagogical approaches. To aid in that process, two indices are provided: an alphabetical list of major contributors and a chronological list of major entries by date of original publication.
This work would not have been possible without the support of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, its president, Neal Fisher, and academic dean, Jack Seymour. That support has made possible the participation of three outstanding editorial assistants: Barbara Javore (who coordinated correspondence related to contributions and permissions), Jennifer Dust-Cottrill (who entered the text according to the editorial specifications of the publisher), and Kimberly Anne Willis (who oversaw the preparation of the final manuscript). The support of Mark Twomey, managing editor of The Liturgical Press, has been invaluable throughout the process. I continue to rejoice in the stimulating collaboration of my colleagues in the liturgical studies doctoral program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
And finally, I say "thank you" to Linda, my life partner for forty years, whose love of liturgy and life and me is a continuing sacrament of God's grace.
Dwight W. Vogel