Search Results (21)

From an outside perspective, it is not clear whether the Catholic Church is an active digital entity, or at least, it is not perceived as such. This paper analyses this issue. The methodology involved the monitoring of ecclesiastical Internet activity, SWOT analysis and in-depth interviews (seven) with clergy and technological suppliers of the Church in both Spain and Latin America. Results: Catholic Church digitalisation is spontaneous, as a reflection of society at large, and is heterogeneous due to its decentralised management. There is more inner acceptance of digital mediatisation for proclamation or support in faith (i.e., apps for praying) and less acceptance for the digitalised practice of rites (digital mediation in the celebration of sacraments is an open debate); however, the presence of ICTs in sacred places is increasing (i.e., liturgical books on screen). The evangelisation of the digital continent is an objective of the Church, whereby clergy influencers are the most striking but less solid case. There is almost full digital implementation at the functional level (i.e., digitised accounting and archives). Only charitable action with vulnerable groups remains analogue. Polarisation is also present, as ultra-Catholic groups are over-represented on the Internet. Conclusion: The Catholic Church is integrated in the Information and Digital Age but is also concerned with spiritual impoverishment, as online fragmentation does not feed real humanitarian communities. Full article

The liturgical reforms of the mid-twentieth century had major impacts on not only the forms of liturgies in the Western church but also on liturgical theology. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church, the Anglican province in the United States, along with several dioceses across the world, represents the culmination of these developments in that jurisdiction. Among its revolutionary suggestions is the reservation of Holy Baptism for certain occasions: the Easter Vigil, Pentecost, All Saints’ Day or the Sunday following, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, and the visitation of a bishop. Many liturgical guides emphasize the advantages of observing these so-called “baptismal feasts,” but none treat them in any lengthy manner. Do the different occasions for baptism have something specific to say about what baptism is? How do the appointed lectionary readings shed light on baptism, and vice versa? In this article, I will explore these feasts and especially their assigned lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary. I will show that when read with a liturgical hermeneutics, the appointed scriptures and, therefore, the baptismal feasts themselves paint a comprehensive picture of a contemporary baptismal theology. Full article

This paper considers a corpus of translations of blessings in bilingual Hebrew–English prayer books from 1940 to the present day, spanning the breadth of religious and sociocultural outlooks. I show how this little-studied body of Jewish text belies the special nature of liturgical language, and how this register of Hebrew–English language combination, so ubiquitous in Jewish communal life, conveys meaning in a particular manner. I explore how liturgical Hebrew constitutes a quasilect in anglophone Jewish communities and how the language of liturgical translation should be considered a special variety of Jewish English. In light of these theoretical frameworks in the fields of Hebrew and Jewish languages, there is much to learn about the linguistic environment of anglophone Jewish communities from the study of the Hebrew and English varieties contained within bilingual prayer books. Full article

This article attempts to document why the Virgin Mary is symbolically designated by the biblical figure “Ark of the Covenant” (Foederis Arca), as reflected in one of the invocations of the Litany of Loreto (Litaniae Lauretanae). To justify such a designation, the author refers to the systematic analysis of the patristic, theological, and hymnic sources of the Eastern and Western Churches, in which the Virgin Mary is labeled as the “Ark of the Covenant” for her virginal divine motherhood, her supreme holiness, and her supernatural privileges. The perfect coincidence, with which for more than a millennium the Fathers, theologians, and liturgical hymnographers of the Greek-Eastern and Latin Churches alluded to the Virgin Mary through this biblical symbol, demonstrates the strong coherence of the Mariological theses of the Christian doctrinal tradition on the person and spiritual attributes of the Virgin Mary. These coincident interpretations of the Fathers, theologians, and hymnographers of the Eastern and Western Churches will allow us to justify our iconographic interpretations of 10 European pictorial annunciations of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in whose scenes a container appears, almost always with books inside: such circumstance allows us to conjecture that the intellectual authors of these paintings of the Annunciation included in them this container to illustrate, as a visual metaphor, the textual metaphor with which the Fathers, theologians, and hymnographers symbolized the Virgin Mary as the Ark of the Covenant containing the Legislator of the new covenant. Full article

This article explores the phenomenology of time and eschatology in the thought of Jean-Yves Lacoste, including his recent book on the philosophy of history. Lacoste’s idea of “the hidden present” is examined within the context of his broader theological and philosophical framework, with a particular focus on the way it addresses the intersection of temporality and eternity. Human temporality is characterized by finitude and death, which are interpreted both philosophically—under the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy—and theologically. Using Husserlian and Heideggerian concepts, Lacoste proposes a theologically inspired conceptual network: phenomenological reduction versus theological reduction, world versus creation, death versus resurrection, care (Sorge) versus eschatological restlessness, and time versus eschaton. All of these describe the liturgical experience of man before God and the possibility of an eternity which, from the point of view of the world and of our experience in the world, can only take on the ever-provisional figure of anticipation. The present article argues for the existence of a theological paradox of eschatology in the writings of the French phenomenologist: even if eschatology is only anticipated, the liturgical man, situated before God (coram Deo), experiences it in an incomplete and apophatic manner. Full article

This paper discusses hitherto unidentified loose folios of a parchment liturgical and musical book held in the Archdiocesan Archive of Gniezno (Poland), containing the offertory and communion antiphons for the feasts De Trinitate and Corpus Christi. The author provides the codicological description of the leaves (analyzing Latin script, musical notation, ornamentation); identifies the time of their creation (15th century); indicates the type of the liturgical book to which they belong (graduale); seeks a melodic model for them and puts forward provenance hypotheses. He states that the melodics of the antiphons, although closest to the Cistercian tradition, are nevertheless variantly different from the melodic line preserved in foreign and Polish codices. It is possible to narrow down the dating of the leaves thanks to the type of Latin script, the calligraphic ornamentation of the initials and the spelling of certain letters. Full article

Prayer in human life enables directing attention to God and a transcendent goal beyond Earthly life. Singing has been present in the life of Israel since the oldest times, which is proved on the pages of the Holy Scriptures, in the Books of Exodus and Psalms. In the New Testament, there is a lot of encouragement to sing the glory of God in psalms and songs, as well as praising God Most High in Revelation. The Catholic Church is concerned with the quality of liturgical music through a number of recommendations and requirements defining the pieces that may become a part of the liturgy. Liturgical choir singing is a special form of common prayer. The aim of the present paper is to examine the effect of prayer by choral singing on human flourishing. The aim was achieved by analyzing recommendations of the Church on liturgical music, presenting the assumptions of the theoretical model investigating the effect of art on human flourishing, and then conducting empirical studies. Sixteen in-depth interviews were carried out with members of fourteen choirs. There were four groups of respondents according to their gender and family status. All obtained codes were organized into five main themes with four subcategories. They confirmed the assumptions of the model presented in the theoretical part and made it possible to identify the effect of choral singing on the performers’ health and the improvement of their skills. In addition, they showed a direct relation between prayer and spiritual well-being when singing in a choir, a coherence of activities with values as well as the striving for happiness. Full article

The Byzantine hymnography was considered a “stumbling stone” of the Jewish–Orthodox Christian dialogue because of the harsh anti-Jewish elements kept in the modern liturgical texts without any revision. This article analyses the often-mentioned texts of the Triodion—the liturgical period before Pascha—using a quantitative approach. The starting point of this research states that we must keep in mind the broader view on the state of the hymnography without labelling the entire Byzantine hymnography as anti-Jewish by looking at some concrete stanzas from Holy Week services. The results demonstrate that we can speak only about very few hymnographical texts containing anti-Jewish elements compared to the entire Triodion. This approach helps us in the Jewish–Christian debates to focus on what exactly are we speaking about, and what precisely those texts are saying. After a short analysis of the content of selected hymns, I propose three concrete categories of hymns that could be more easily approached by either excluding them or transforming them through translation into modern languages. Full article

Liturgical practice and its theological interpretation are not only very important to the Chinese inculturation of Catholicism in particular and Christianity in general but also of great significance in the establishment of an indigenized Christian faith and system of life. This paper will analyze the methodological approaches and historical inspirations for the inculturation of Christian liturgical theology through Giulio Aleni’s (1582–1649) Explication of the Mass (Misa Jiyi, 弥撒祭义), the first book to utilize Chinese cultural resources to systematically interpret the Mass (Eucharist). Continuing the general Jesuit accommodation initiated by Matteo Ricci, Aleni established an indigenized liturgical system of theology through intercultural learning, borrowing, and creative construction. Three of his contributions especially stand out. First, Aleni explained the significance of the Mass in terms of the Chinese philosophical–ethical concepts of “repaying the roots” (baoben, 报本) and “giving thanks” (gan’en, 感恩). Second, he elaborated on communion with the Trinitarian God in the Mass through Jesus Christ by drawing on the ancient Chinese teachings of repaying (chou, 酬), commemoration (shi, 示), and hope (wang, 望), which Aleni related to “giving thanks to the Father,” “commemorating Jesus,” and “invoking the Holy Spirit.” Finally, he provided a deep spiritual explanation of the Mass, using the traditional Confucian concepts of “self-restraint” (keji, 克己), “self-reflection” (fanji, 反己), and “spiritual meditation” (chouyi, 抽绎) to help believers understand the activities of repentance, commemoration, and prayer in the Mass. Overall, Aleni emphasized that the essence of the Mass was to achieve “communion with the heart of heavenly Lord” (xihe tianzhuzhixin, 翕合天主之心), which, as a pivot of faith, could be extended into daily life through its spiritual practice. Aleni, therefore, established a comprehensive system of “liturgy-spirituality-life” for Chinese Christians by indigenizing Christian liturgical theology through intercultural learning. His creative synthesis yielded a dynamic balance between Christian and Chinese traditions, absorbing Confucian resources to imaginatively enrich and expand the Christian tradition, while encouraging the creative transformation of the Christian tradition into the Chinese cultural community. Full article

Every Purim, synagogues read the biblical Book of Esther aloud in liturgy, a tradition that exemplifies how synagogue performance practices elaborate on, revise, and refine minor characters in the text. This paper studies four such minor characters in performance from the second century to the present: Haman’s sons, Zeresh, Harbona, and Vashti. These characters evince ways in which performance practices of biblical texts construct moral and psychological assessments of characters in the story, through the interaction of audience, performer, text, and liturgical framing. Further, biblical characters are performed differently in ways which parallel textual interpretation of biblical texts as well as changing social trends and values. In performance, the narrative-critical work of characterization comes alive. Full article

This study analyses the Ritual of Esztergom, a ritual book published in 1625 containing rites for the celebration of sacraments and sacramentals administered by priests. The edition of this ritual book belongs to the period after the Council of Trent when the process of adaptation to the Roman liturgy began. The common elements and differences between the Ritual of Esztergom (1625) and the Roman Ritual (1614) are determined by comparative analysis. Our research has revealed a significant similarity with the Roman Ritual. Particularities preserved in the liturgical practice from the original Rite of Esztergom were identified in celebrating baptism, marriage and some blessings. Full article

This research explores the figurative culture that flourished in Sicily during the 12th and 13th centuries, focusing on the interplay between artifacts of different types, materials, techniques and uses. Paintings, sculptures and objects that share a common visual language are analyzed with the aim of highlighting recurring motifs, mutual influences and related sources. The main focus is on the decorative apparatus of the Sacramentary Ms. 52 (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España), one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts from Sicily. The date, origin and patronage of this luxurious liturgical book have been the subject of intense scholarly debate. In order to shed light on these controversial issues, this study re-examines the various hypotheses considered by scholars, taking into account the historical events that affected Sicily from the end of the Norman to the beginning of the Swabian era. This analysis also shows how the decoration of the manuscript fits into the wider dynamics of cultural exchange that characterized Sicily and the Mediterranean during this transitional period. Full article

Numerous discussions on religion were held within the communicative network among Jewish enlighteners in Berlin and Breslau. These discussions were characterized by a hitherto unknown form of skeptical and critical questioning of religious customs and practices of Ashkenazi Jewry. Moreover, they were characterized by an unprecedented skeptical questioning of religious customs and traditions of Ashkenazi Judaism. The places of these discussions were located where many different people gathered and contributed in their verbal exchanges to their mutual understanding. The experience of different opinions became the starting point for a self-reflective comparative review process of their own religious positioning and to their own stand on questions of an individual’s education and development. These oral discourses in many ways found expression in written statements, as in introductions to German translations of Biblical books and liturgical texts, in school programs, journals and modern sermons. Full article

The CCLI charts may not reflect it, yet one thing many Christian churches discovered as the pandemic raged across the world (and violence at home and abroad) was the need for songs of sacred lament. Unfortunately, many churchgoers, especially those who identify as practitioners of contemporary Christian worship, have cultivated a gap between the biblical give and take of praise and lament revealed most poignantly in the book of Psalms. This chasm between praise and lament is a problem, as a liturgical discourse about disastrous events is weakened. Churches sing congregational songs of praise in the church, the chorus of ‘what ought to be’. Meanwhile, outside the church, artists in genres as diverse as folk and rap sing the chorus of what frankly ‘is’. For the church to be transformative, it must be grounded in what is (lament) and aiming toward what ought to be (praise). This is the value of the cycle of praise and lament in the church’s liturgy. This article explores the impact of CCM (contemporary Christian music) and praise and worship culture as it laments the loss of lament in Christian worship. The essay articulates the missing sense of ‘Truth’ in contemporary congregational music, as defined by Don Saliers’ Worship Come to Its Senses. The article closes by amplifying emerging Christian songwriters reintroducing lament to contemporary worship. Full article

This article deals with the description of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Byzantine liturgical book known as the Typikon of Mâr Saba. This description is well preserved from its oldest known Greek testimonies until at least the 13th century. It is notable that this liturgical celebration is the only one depicted in the book that involves the Eucharist. In the article, some partially unedited fragments of the Greek text of three testimonies are presented and analysed, and some reflections and questions are collected at the end in an attempt to shed light on the historical development of this text, which is crucial to our understanding of the history of Byzantine liturgy. Full article