DESCRIPTION: This is a doctoral level seminar, open at the 500-level to a limited number of advanced master's level students by special permission. The phrase Lex Orandi/Lex Credendi, attributed to the fifth-century monk Prosper of Aquitaine, has both described and defined the task of liturgical theology. This task is to define the relationship between the Law of Prayer (Lex Orandi) and the Law of Belief (Lex Credendi). This seminar will survey the history of this relationship and the contemporary expressions within the Christian churches today.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Lex Orandi/Lex Credendi is the central pastoral issue for liturgy. How you worship will define what you believe. So too, what you believe should inform how you worship. The congruence between our belief and our worship is a central pastoral concern. This analysis leads to a corollary issue: the relationship between corporate prayer (liturgy) and private prayer (spirituality). It also defines the relationship between liturgy and life in areas such as justice, evangelism, ecclesiology, and eschatology.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: There are four learning outcomes for this course: (1) to attain an overview of the history of liturgical theology and the schools of thought that have developed; (2) to examine the relationship between ritual and the life of faith; (3) to develop a methodology of pastoral liturgy that reflects on current praxis, evaluates it using historical, theological and ritual models, and reappraises the praxis; and (4) to formulate operative definitions of worship and liturgical theology.

COURSE FORMAT: The seminar will meet weekly for three-hour sessions. It will have some lectures by the professor, but will be mostly seminar presentations and discussions.

REQUIRED READING:

Course Reader.

Ellis, Christopher. Gathering: A Theology and Spirituality of Worship in the Free Church Tradition. London: SCM Press, 2004.

Maximus the Confessor. Mystagogy. PG 91: 657-717. ET: The Church, Liturgy, and the Soul of Man. Still River: St. Bede's Publications, 1982.

Muir, Edward. Ritual in Early Modern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Schmemann, Alexander. Introduction to Liturgical Theology. Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1986.

Hughes, Graham. Worship as Meaning: A liturgical Theology for Late Modernity. Cambridge U.P., 2003.

Vogel, D., ed. Primary Sources of Liturgical Theology: A Reader. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000.

Zimmerman, Joyce A. Liturgy and Hermeneutics. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1999.

Casel, Odo. The Mystery of Christian Worship. Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1962.

Kavanagh, Aidan. On Liturgical Theology. New York: Pueblo Pub. Co., 1984.

Kilmartin, Edward. Christian Liturgy: Theology and Practice. I: Systematic Theology of Liturgy. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1988.

Lathrop, Gordon. Holy Things. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993.

Saliers, Donald. Worship as Theology: Foretaste of Glory Divine. Nashville: Abingdon, 1994.

Underhill, Evelyn. Worship. New York: Harper, 1957.

Wainwright, Geoffrey. Doxology: The Praise of God in Worship, Doctrine, and Life; A Systematic Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.