Read more
Participation in religious liturgies and rituals is a pervasive and remarkably complex form of human activity. This book opens with a discussion of the nature of liturgical activity and then explores various dimensions of such activity. Over the past fifty years there has been a remarkable surge of interest, within the analytic tradition of philosophy, in philosophy of religion. Most of what has been written by participants in this movement deals with one or another
aspect of religious belief. Yet for most adherents of most religions, participation in the liturgies and rituals of their religion is at least as important as what they believe. One of the aims of this book is to call the attention of philosophers of religion to the importance of religious practice
and to demonstrate how rich a topic this is for philosophical reflection. Another aim is to show liturgical scholars who are not philosophers that a philosophical approach to liturgy casts an illuminating light on the topic that supplements their own approach. Insofar as philosophers have written about liturgy, they have focused most of their attention on its formative and expressive functions. This book focuses instead on understanding what liturgical agents actually do. It is what
they do that functions formatively or expressively. What they do is basic.
List of contents
- Introduction
- PART ONE: LITURGY, ENACTMENTS, AND SCRIPTS
- 1: What is Liturgy?
- 2: On Following a Liturgical Script
- 3: With One Accord: The Communal Dimension of Liturgical Enactments
- 4: On Bended Knee: the Bodily Dimension of Liturgical Enactments
- 5: What Are Those without Faith Doing in Liturgical Enactments?
- PART TWO: LITURGY AND SCRIPTURE
- 6: On the Liturgical Reading and Singing of Scripture
- 7: Liturgical Repetition and Reenactment
- 8: Liturgical Commemoration
- 9: The Liturgical Present Tense
- PART THREE: GOD IN THE LITURGY
- 10: God's Liturgical Activity
- 11: Does God Know What We Say to God?
- PART FOUR: LITURGY, LOVE, AND JUSTICE
- 12: Liturgical Love
- 13: Justice and Injustice in Christian Liturgies
About the author
Nicholas Wolterstorff is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University. He is the author thirty books, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and former president of the American Philosophical Association.
Summary
Participation in religious liturgies and rituals is a pervasive and complex human activity. This book discusses the nature of liturgical activity and the various dimensions of such activity. Nicholas Wolterstorff focuses on understanding what liturgical agents actually do and shows religious practice as a rich area for philosophical reflection.
Additional text
This book is provocative, instructive, and should achieve the author's intention of catalyzing a new research program ... Acting Liturgically will be an essential guide
Report
This book is provocative, instructive, and should achieve the author's intention of catalyzing a new research program ... Acting Liturgically will be an essential guide James M. Arcadi, Reading Religion
