Abstract
Those familiar with liturgical theology should have come across Nicolas Wolterstorff’s writing before. This volume represents the fruit of the discussions that were held at the Calvin Institute of Christian worship between 2015 and 2016 (p. ix), which investigated Christian liturgy through the lens of a philosopher. Identifying the three trends of liturgical studies – expressive, formative, and performative dimensions (p. 292) – the Yale professor explores the latter throughout the monograph and uses examples from Catholic, Orthodox, and mainline Protestant liturgies to enrich the dialogue (p. 8).
Divided into four parts, the book begins with a definition of liturgy (Ch. 1), the purpose of a script (Ch. 2), the communal (Ch. 3) and bodily (Ch. 4) dimensions of liturgical action, and the latter’s implications for non-believers (Ch. 5). The second part relates scripture to liturgy and looks at how reading and singing may affect the interpretation of the scripture (Ch. 6). This part also examines the differences between repetition and reenactment (Ch. 7), the acts of commemoration (Ch. 8), and the importance of the past or present tense in certain liturgical actions (Ch. 9). The third part is a continuation of The God We Worship (2015) that focuses on the nature of God, highlighting its philosophical meanings in liturgical activities (Ch. 10) and God’s knowledge in one’s locutionary and illocutionary acts (Ch. 11). The last part examines the liturgical meaning of love (Ch. 12) and justice (Ch. 13), extending the conversation in Justice in Love (2015).
Based on the author’s definition that the performative dimension of liturgy implies ‘doing’ something, I wonder what are the philosophical implications of non-action, when the congregants are not doing anything intentionally? For example, the moment of silence in Sunday Services that requires non-action. Despite this minor point, I particularly enjoyed the discussion of African American liturgies in Chapter 13, which helps the readers to relate liturgy to social issues. Though published in 2018, this is still a timely response to the increasingly heated debates about Black Lives Matter in mid-2020.
Although this volume is intended primarily for philosophers and liturgical scholars, the text is very accessible to people outside this field and the flow of the argument is easy to follow. This is a welcomed addition for those who simply want to learn about Christian liturgy.