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The Metaverse promises the abolition of physical and temporal boundaries, people achieving what they want freely, and the feeling of immortality. In this paper I analyze the hyper-spatiotemporal nature of the Metaverse from a Christian anthropological perspective. I start by reviewing the Christian understanding of time and the Metaverse space–time construct. Next, I draw a parallel between digital immortality and the eternal life of the age to come. Finally, arguing that the Metaverse's offer of digital immortality is a palliative, discarnate surrogate, I discuss the Christian perspective on how eternity can be authentically anticipated while living in this world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the war in Ukraine on Orthodox Christian liturgy in the country. It explores whether liturgy should respond to war or provide a respite from violence. The article discusses the different denominations within Ukrainian Orthodoxy and their competing notions of history, identity, and victimhood, and how these differences affect liturgical practices such as language and the veneration of saints. It emphasizes that the divisions within Ukraine are not solely caused by external forces but have existed within Ukrainian Orthodoxy itself. The article also discusses the liturgical practices and commemoration of national traumas in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), highlighting the OCU's focus on Ukrainian distinctiveness and secular memory culture. The war has caused upheaval in both churches' liturgical practices, with the OCU making changes to emphasize Ukrainian identity and distance from Russia, while the UOC has been more resistant to change. The article also mentions the role of monasticism in shaping liturgical practices and the potential impact of political developments on religious freedom in Ukraine. It explores the conflict in Ukraine as a reflection of a fault line in World Orthodoxy and discusses various sources and concepts related to Ukrainian liturgical narratives, victimhood nationalism, and the distinctiveness of Christianity in Ukraine. The text also touches on the division within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the impact of the conflict on religious communities. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores the experiential reality surrounding the Divine Liturgy, a Byzantine rite in Orthodox Christianity that has remained central to Eastern practice globally since Late Antiquity. The article draws on multi-sited ethnography in the glocal context of the Orthodox Church of Finland (OCF), a national church of minority and a site of multicultural interaction. Our analysis shows participants articulate their experiences with the Liturgy in an epistemology of interiority by which (1) they constantly, if unevenly, and agentically engage with the Liturgy in a form of individual, vernacular artistry. This interiority is (2) both sensorial and interpretative, and (3) ambivalently grounded in motifs of being "at home" and, at the same time, "on a journey." That is, participants from different backgrounds make a connection to the Liturgy both as a spiritual and a literal home, relating to different elements—Finnish, Karelian, Byzantine, and Church Slavonic—in its ritualistic aesthetics. At the same time, Liturgy emerges as a perpetual journey of new openings and glimpses, informed by past experiences and life trajectories, and participants relate to these two aspects simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of the chaplain in Catholic schools in England and some of the contemporary challenges. There is a focus on two issues in particular: the celebration of liturgy and the participation of non-Catholic children and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ children in the Catholic school. This article draws out some of the tensions between the pastoral sensitivities around participation in liturgy and the directives of the Prayer and Liturgy Directory and the complexity of the legal and pastoral inclusion of LGBTQ+ children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the decolonization of the Puerto Rican Christian-Presbyterian liturgy, focusing on the historical relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States and its impact on Christian worship. It explores the early history of Presbyterianism in Puerto Rico, including the merging of local movements with Presbyterian ideas. The essay highlights signs of liturgical resistance, such as the incorporation of Puerto Rican rhythms and instruments in hymnody. While acknowledging the colonial nature of the Presbyterian liturgical legacy, the article calls for a decolonization of Christian worship in Puerto Rico, promoting the inclusion of indigenous and African religious wisdom and advocating for shared power and representation in future liturgies. [Extracted from the article]

The journal Liturgy provides practical help and reflection for studying, preparing, and celebrating Christian worship. It has a history connected to the Liturgical Conference and has expanded its focus beyond Roman Catholic contexts to include Lutherans and Reformed churches. The article discusses the lack of representation from the rest of the world in the journal and suggests that it could benefit from engaging with wider perspectives and promoting difference through citation. The journal has explored themes related to American identity and nationalism, including the September 11 attacks, and celebrates the inclusion of diverse voices, including African American theologians. While the journal has primarily focused on North American and US-based perspectives, there is a growing recognition of the need for a more polycentric approach and inclusion of voices from around the world. [Extracted from the article]

Given the pervasive nature of domestic violence, it is safe to say that there are women present in every Sunday service who have suffered, or are currently suffering, domestic violence. While liturgy's 'limits' must be acknowledged, it is surprising that domestic violence has not received greater attention by liturgical theologians, with few liturgical resources available for use outside of women-only groups. There is a clear and pressing need for trauma-informed liturgical resources for use in regular Sunday services. This article explores the intersection between domestic violence and liturgy with a focus on the prayer of confession. Prayers of confession are explored from several angles – including the historic and the non-textual elements – to examine the ways in which each may intersect with domestic violence. In each case, a different prayer of confession is used as a 'lens' to view how the trauma caused by domestic violence may be compounded or reinscribed by their use. Alternatives to traditional prayers of confession are then considered, with the conclusion drawn that one of the most suitable alternatives is a prayer of lament. Using the preceding discussion as its foundation, an example of an appropriate prayer of lament is then outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the aesthetics of recognition as the most appropriate approach for discerning the religious potentiality (of a Christian nature) in a significant part of contemporary art. To do so, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms, functions, and forms of recognition, to distinguish between profane, sacred, and religious art, to critically analyze the aesthetic model of the Catholic Church rooted in the concept of Neoplatonic beauty, and to propose an alternative procedure. The alternative procedure serves two purposes: first, to reveal the religious aspect of a substantial segment of contemporary culture that has been largely overlooked; and second, to prevent the confusion that arises from the inclusion of religious works in churches and liturgies, giving the impression that they are sacred. Such confusion is widespread and detrimental to the sacramental experience of faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the evolving nature of affectivity in the long Reformation, focusing especially on the place of lament in the 'emotion script' of early modern Lutheranism. It examines this script by introducing readers to an extremely rich and previously unknown ego-document or 'Selbstzeugnis' from early seventeenth-century Nürnberg: Johann Christoph Oelhafen's 'Pious Meditations on the, Alas, Most Sorrowful Bereavement'. The article argues that the 'Pious Meditations' was shaped by the liturgical life of the early modern Lutheran house-church, even as it contributed a new and important 'setting' to this liturgy that allowed greater room for biblical lament in times of overwhelming grief. This new 'setting', in turn, constituted a revision of the early modern Lutheran 'emotion script'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Verona Orational, copied in Tarragona in the early eighth century, contains processional rubrics hinting at liturgical movement between churches on Carnes Tollendas Sunday at the beginning of Lent. The rubrics mention three places: Holy Jerusalem, Saint Fructuosus's and Saint Peter's. This essay examines the processional rubrics in tandem with the urban architecture of Visigothic Tarragona to place these processions as nearly as possible in their topographical context. We also consider the likely character of the chants sung during the processions, drawing both on the Verona Orational texts and the processional chants for Carnes Tollendas Sunday preserved in later manuscripts. This unique sonic and spatial experience signalled the beginning of Lent to the entire city, Christianizing the urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Themes of Christian initiation permeate the Old Hispanic liturgy for the three weeks before Easter, culminating in the Easter Vigil baptisms. Previous scholars have examined the initiation prayers, readings, and sermons in detail, exploring their connections with the writings of Ildephonsus of Toledo (d. 667). In this article, we consider the initiation rituals from the perspectives of liturgical movement and chant. On Mid-Lent Sunday (three weeks before Easter) and Palm Sunday, the themes of these rituals were developed both in the processional chants and the initiation-themed chants that surrounded them. These materials provide a rich source of information about how initiation theology was enacted through ritual movement and sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The only record we have of a procession for a saint in the entire Old Hispanic tradition is a chant sung on the feast of Saint Leocadia, on the way to her tomb (ad sepulcrum). Copied in the tenth-century León Antiphoner, this chant resonates with additional references to rituals around Leocadia's tomb which may be traceable to the Visigothic capital of Toledo, her place of burial. This article explores the evidence for processional activity connected with Leocadia, what it might have looked like in different periods, and how it may have ended up being celebrated as far away as León. Correcting certain misconceptions about the translation of her relics northwards – they were not moved to Oviedo, as is often upheld – we are yet left with open questions as to the inclusion of the ad sepulchrum chant in the León manuscript. It may be that reproducing key rituals connected with Toledo's patron saint was a way of capturing the spiritual authority of Toledo as the former capital of the Visigothic kingdom and the imagined source of the Old Hispanic liturgy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the custodians of a particularly diverse cult of saints, the monks of Ely faced a commemorative dilemma in the in late eleventh century. The abbey's cult centred around the virgin queen St Æthelthryth, whose incorruptible body exemplified the integrity of the monastic community. Ely's reverence for Æthelthryth extended to her female kindred, as the monks also venerated her sisters Wihtburh and Seaxburh, alongside her niece Eormenhild. Unlike Æthelthryth, Seaxburh and Eormenhild had historical traditions of motherhood and bodily corruptibility, impelling the monks to balance their saints' conflicting virtues in commemorative literature. This article explores the shifting merits of the Ely mothers as represented in eleventh-century liturgy and hagiography. The study begins by examining the mothers' pre-Conquest liturgical commemoration, with a focus on their appearance in litanies and proper mass sets. It then analyses the Ely hagiography of Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, arguing that he worked to reconcile the kindreds' virtues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a South African exile and anti-apartheid activist in Detroit, Michigan (USA), Rev. Mangedwa Nyathi founded the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church Agape Center, feeding people all over the city during the worst and hardest parts of the 1980s. The theological underpinnings of the food pantry operated as a practical political education in Black liberation. Rev. Nyathi played a profound influence on the author as a child bringing anti-apartheid politics as agape into the life of other clergy members, the author's parents, and the entire congregation. The Agape Center shaped the author's anticolonial consciousness by reframing economic justice activism in Detroit within a global context of resistance. This article remembers the work of the Agape Center food pantry, its origins in the political economy and social history of the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church – based on child perspective reminiscences and autobiography. It argues that the anti-apartheid movement in Detroit was peopled by everyday people, children and adults, who were survivors of brutalising levels of racialised economic violence and its attendant colonial ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusion The main contributions of the Liturgical Renewal Movement over the last fifty years which I have named Laity, Lectionary, and Laughter have helped to identify further concerns for the future renewal of worship. Rather, that power must be taken up by the congregation.[6] The lectionary enables laity to access the Bible.[7] While we should not idolize the lectionary as if that were the only option to use in worship, it has enhanced the quality of worship when all worshiping members read scripture together intergenerationally and internationally. Keywords: Laity; lament; land; laugher; lectionary; leadership; liturgical renewal movement; liturgical language EN Laity lament land laugher lectionary leadership liturgical renewal movement liturgical language 33 39 7 02/07/23 20230101 NES 230101 Introduction My liturgical homeland includes Korean Roman Catholicism and Presbyterianism as well as Canadian Methodist and Reformed traditions.[1] I teach at a Canadian theological school that was founded by the ancestors of the United Church of Canada, who had a vision for church unity between Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist congregations in 1925. Contributions of the Liturgical Renewal Movement The Second Vatican Council awakened worshiping assemblies with the three adjectives "full, conscious, and active participation."[2] These adjectives clearly point to the lack of participation in worship. [Extracted from the article]

In his first address (October 9) following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III acknowledged "the sovereign's particular relationship and responsibility toward the Church of England - the Church in which my own faith is so deeply rooted." The real breakthrough in all of this was the claim that things in the world are neither true nor false; it is only statements that describe these things that may be true or not. Keywords: ethics; Jewish liturgy; Christian liturgy; interreligious; liturgical theology; ritual; religious practice EN ethics Jewish liturgy Christian liturgy interreligious liturgical theology ritual religious practice 74 79 6 02/07/23 20230101 NES 230101 We should take enormous pride in the liturgical revolution that has characterized the last half century. But every Reformation has its Counter-Reformation, and of late, a second Counter Reformation has been our lot. [Extracted from the article]

Converts to the Orthodox church describe the liturgy as apostolic, an anchor, or a safe haven from the troubles of the world.[1] The Liturgy is quite quotable - the Cherubikon invites faithful to "lay aside all earthly cares", a verse that confirms the otherworldly quality of Orthodox Liturgy. Keywords: Orthodox; divine liturgy; Byzantine; anaphora; holy communion; John Chrysostom; deacons; Eucharist EN Orthodox divine liturgy Byzantine anaphora holy communion John Chrysostom deacons Eucharist 5 10 6 02/07/23 20230101 NES 230101 What is special about Orthodox Liturgy? Having spent the better part of my career by gently hinting at possible changes to Orthodox Liturgy, I can say with confidence that Orthodox liturgy needs to be updated. [Extracted from the article]

What Paul VI later said to the churches of Africa, "You, may, and you must, have an African Christianity,"[7] was taken to heart by the I oikumene i of the Christian church in the western world. Albert Raboteau speaks about how African American Christians across North America began raising questions during the 1970s and 1980s in an attempt to reforge the relationship between religious and racial identities and allow expression of "black genius" in the life of the church. [9] African American churches were already at work shaping practices, attempting to infuse liturgy and worship with more spiritual dynamism. Keywords: liturgy; race; colonialism; inculturation; genius; Latinization; African American; Black; whiteness; Sacrosanctum Concilium; authenticity EN liturgy race colonialism inculturation genius Latinization African American Black whiteness Sacrosanctum Concilium authenticity 22 27 6 11/28/22 20221001 NES 221001 The experience of Africans with Christianity predates the trans-Atlantic slave trade, yet many neglect this. [Extracted from the article]

The eclectic collection of Christian traditions and communities that may be considered Free Church, and the decentralized structures of these Christian communities, result in Free Church worship practices that are difficult to predict. I then explore two movements that have shaped worship in Free Church traditions in recent decades, and consider four scholarly approaches to Free Church worship. When considering liturgical renewal in retrospect in Free Church traditions, it is crucial to recognize that significant work remains to be done in decolonizing Free Church worship in ways that empower all individuals in congregations to draw deeply on local culture in shaping local practice that can challenge oppressive structures. The overlapping traits that characterize the Free Church family of Christian traditions contribute to the unpredictable nature of Free Church worship, and the multiplicity of free-spirited ways that liturgical renewal can emerge and develop. [Extracted from the article]

Assessing Liturgical Reform in the Eastern Churches in the Wake of Vatican II Liturgy, liturgical reform, Eastern Christian, Orthodox, Byzantine Rite, Greco-Catholic, Schmemann, aggiornamento, ressourcement, Coptic Although the preponderance of work in Oriental liturgiology has in fact concerned the Byzantine Rite, this hardly implies that Eastern Orthodox communities have proven any more than the Oriental Orthodox amenable to alter the structure and contents of their received rites. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Second Vatican Council; Catholic Liturgical Reform; Alexander Schmemann; Louis-Marie Chauvet; eucharistic prayer; inculturation; International Commission on English in the Liturgy EN Second Vatican Council Catholic Liturgical Reform Alexander Schmemann Louis-Marie Chauvet eucharistic prayer inculturation International Commission on English in the Liturgy 10 15 6 11/28/22 20221001 NES 221001 A remarkable corpus of Roman Catholic liturgical scholarship has been produced over the past fifty years. Once again the contributors are mainly Roman Catholics, and many of them represent a more "conservative" approach to liturgy and sacraments.[29] Conclusion By now, it should be fairly obvious that this overview has been rather schematic and has omitted any number of worthy Catholic scholars and publications (like I Liturgical Ministry, Ecclesia Orans, Questions Liturgiques, Ephemerides Liturgicae, i and I Worship i ). I am omitting the recent battle over Pope Benedict XVI's I Summorum Pontificum i (2007), broadly granting permission to use the Latin texts of the traditional Roman liturgy, and Pope Francis' I Traditionis Custodes i (2021) tightening the restrictions on the use of the so-called Extraordinary Form. Major Surveys A survey of the type and length of this present one can only hope to give a glimpse of the important work Roman Catholics have contributed to the study of the liturgy in the past fifty years. [Extracted from the article]

They have provided new perspectives on the phenomena of contemporary praise and worship music, especially in the context of evangelical Protestant worshiping communities, the ways in which such music has come to be equated with worship, and what such music-making practices mean for the formation of congregations.[22] Perhaps the most pressing challenge to the work of liturgical reform today is what to make of the sudden shift, prompted by the Covid pandemic, to offering worship services via digital media. Keywords: ecumenism; inclusive language; liturgical reform; liturgical theology; Methodist; Protestant; transcultural EN ecumenism inclusive language liturgical reform liturgical theology Methodist Protestant transcultural 4 9 6 11/28/22 20221001 NES 221001 I have been invited to offer I a i mainline Protestant perspective on liturgical renewal and liturgical scholarship over the past fifty years. That literature has received relatively little attention from liturgical scholars, while it, perhaps more than any official denominational liturgical revision, reshaped conversations in churches about "effective" worship and either contributed to or exacerbated the "worship wars" of that period. [Extracted from the article]

The Bible tells keeners to teach lament to a faith community and to the daughters of the community when evil and injustice are rampant. This intriguing demand draws the attention of the faith community to how lament works and how it can become a community practice to deal with suffering. This study specifically challenges the adequacy of the liturgy and the response of the faith community to violence against women. Reading Jeremiah 9 and Judges 11 from a lament perspective cultivates one's ability to imagine the experiences of others and to share in their sufferings. This study reconstructs the language of faith as lament, participates in the suffering of women exposed to violence, and includes the lament tradition and women's voices in the liturgical tradition. By retrieving and teaching traditions that are responsive to suffering, the faith community can contribute to the building of co-creation by continually remembering, resisting, and caring for suffering, both now and in generations to come. Becoming educated in lament is not about subverting established traditions, but about co-constructing traditions by including excluded voices, rediscovering the richness of voices, incorporating powerful modifications, and bringing new perspectives to the surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Council for World Mission (CWM), a global fellowship of thirty-two churches, has recently produced different liturgical resources that represent decolonial work in progress – notably, Cláudio Carvalhaes, ed., Liturgies from Below, and Viji Varghese Eapen, ed., With Many Voices. This article briefly contextualises that work in a wider view of liturgical theology and then reviews the CWM contributions. It asks questions of the CWM's resources and of other forms of Christian worship from which the CWM initiatives consciously distinguish themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bill Paterson and Léon Van Ommen were participants in an online conference in 2021 entitled, Responding to the Sacred: Liturgy and Gender in Conversation. These two papers encapsulate something of the dialogue that took place between Paterson and Van Ommen on that occasion. Whilst many people may now be more aware of how women and girls are implicated in liturgical language liturgy, reflecting patriarchal attitudes, Paterson and Van Ommen took on the task of discussing the implications of such gendered language for men. Paterson reflects on the ways in which the carefully structured practices of mindfulness reflect a purpose not unlike that of the Church's liturgy in seeking to provide a 'blue-print for change'. In response, as a teacher and author of work on Church liturgy – especially as this impacts on marginalised groups -Van Ommen highlights ways in which his approach to the liturgy both conforms with and differs from Paterson's practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Agency; Moravian; identity; litanies; liturgies; Caribbean hymnody EN Agency Moravian identity litanies liturgies Caribbean hymnody 64 72 9 04/29/22 20220101 NES 220101 I Agency i , according to Kath Woodward, is one of the five key components central to understanding how identity is formed. Kath Woodward (London: The Open University, 2000), 6-7. 2 Moravian Church, Eastern West Indies Province, I Caribbean Moravian Praise Liturgy Book: The Official Liturgy Book for the Moravian Churches in the Caribbean i (Antigua and Barbuda: Moravian Church, Eastern West Indies Province, 2017). 7 Moravian Church, British Province, I The Moravian Hymn Book: Hymns authorized for use in The Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) in Great Britain and Ireland i (London: Moravian Book Room, 1960). This liturgy book drew upon the rich worship tradition which Moravians in the Caribbean inherited from past generations while at the same time providing new litanies to fit the local Caribbean Moravian context. [Extracted from the article]

Sitting Arrangement for Church Leaders The keepers of Christian tradition within Reformed churches are the elders, deacons, and pastors who are members of the church consistory. With local Christians taking the reins of church leadership, churches in Indonesia reconstructed their identities and redefined their relationships with the European churches and mission boards. Keywords: postcolonial liturgy; worship; Indonesia; contextualization EN postcolonial liturgy worship Indonesia contextualization 55 63 9 04/29/22 20220101 NES 220101 Hybridity is a distinctive feature in the Sunday worship of Indonesian churches. [Extracted from the article]

Characteristics of the Liturgy of Jerusalem The Liturgy of Jerusalem can be characterized as including holy places, stations, cathedrals, and processions. The I Typikon i of St. Sabbas, which dictated most of the liturgical customs of the Orthodox churches, represents the Liturgy of Jerusalem during the Byzantine period.[13] A Processional Liturgy As a consequence of the first two characteristics just mentioned, the processional liturgy became very important to the cult of Jerusalem. Keywords: Jerusalem Church; liturgy; Egeria; St. James; Holy Places EN Jerusalem Church liturgy Egeria St. James Holy Places 6 14 9 04/29/22 20220101 NES 220101 This essay will present the Jerusalem liturgy in the fourth and fifth centuries, a period of the formation of the liturgies throughout the Christian world. Epiphanius designates him under this name in English the hermeneutic ( I hermeneutes i ).[40] The I Staurophylaxis i , guards the precious Cross because of the presence of the relic of the Holy Wood of the Cross.[41] The Liturgical Year of Jerusalem Egeria has repeatedly said that the Liturgy of Jerusalem was most remarkable because everything was "appropriate to time and place.". [Extracted from the article]

Also, one objection to this proposed framework of the protestor as martyr may be that protestors are actively resisting, whereas the martyr is one who passively suffers in the face of persecution. The martyr points to life "ordered to something greater and more worthy", Boff explains, and "signposts (and so is in himself a sacrament) the direction in which language which speaks of the absolute can be meaningful."[46] The martyr stands as an "efficacious sign of grace", revealing and inviting others into the grace of Christ. I remembered though, cause it stood out to me when I saw it, cause, ya know, in Greek, witness means martyr, or, I guess, rather, martyr means witness..." i I We proceeded to talk about that night and how I was doing for a few more minutes, before I assured her that I was ok and that she could go back to sleep. i What Is a Martyr? [19] Or, as Augustine put it, "anyone who preaches wherever he can is, indeed, a martyr."[20] Fruchtman returns to the roots of the word martyr and proposes a revised definition: the martyr as sacrificial witness. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: symbol; role-playing; games; RPGS; ritual; ethics; liturgy; participation; play EN symbol role-playing games RPGS ritual ethics liturgy participation play 52 59 8 01/07/22 20211001 NES 211001 Introduction In recent years, tabletop role-playing games have surged in popularity.[1] The reasons for this may vary, but a central feature of what tends to make tabletop role-playing games compelling for many players is the ability the games afford to connect with a character, party, or storyline in a way that moves significantly beyond participation as an observer or consumer of content.[2] Creative agency is involved - sometimes significantly so - on the part of the players, the narrator/game facilitator, and the group as a whole. Tabletop role-playing games have particular communal and ritual characteristics that may not hold in the same way for role-playing video games, even when the "tabletop" of the game is online, facilitated by game conferencing platforms like Roll20, roll20.net, or Fantasy Grounds, fantasygrounds.com. The rupture from the everyday is very much part of the point of the players' endeavor and can be facilitated by everything from particular game artifacts to specific localized player practices and even to the garb (vestments?) players wear. I do not mean exactly what kinds and flavors of symbols appear (indeed, each role-playing game tends to craft its own system of symbols); I mean, instead, How do symbols function when role-playing games take place?. [Extracted from the article]

Harvey elucidates a theology of sport as the "liturgical celebration of our contingency."[7] Harvey bases this account of sport as liturgy within a rigorous theological anthropology. Keywords: Sport; contingency; Lincoln Harvey; Jonathan Z. Smith; ritualization; sacramentality EN Sport contingency Lincoln Harvey Jonathan Z. Smith ritualization sacramentality 14 21 8 01/07/22 20211001 NES 211001 In what follows, I want to treat two thinkers who will help us think through two distinct ways in which sport - either participating in sport as a player or following sport as a fan - might be construed as "liturgy." In sport, "God instead steps back, evacuating the space created by the liturgical action, enabling the creature to be somehow at a distance in its own integrity."[12] For sport to be a liturgical celebration of our contingency the outcomes must be I genuinely contingent i since "sport is the miraculous liturgy of momentary distance in which [God] steps back, uninvolved, refusing to influence the outcome of a game in any way whatsoever." Sport as Liturgy: A Brief Amendation Yet, can it be that sport and I only i sport is the sole venue worthy of God's stepping-back and allowing full contingency within the whole of the human milieu?. [Extracted from the article]

It is rare to be able to trace the sharing of ideas among a network of preachers from surviving narrative evidence, letters, reportationes, and sermon collections. It is rarer yet to be able to link liturgy, sermons, and artwork to reconstruct how their audiences might have received and interpreted these messages. However, this article accomplishes precisely that, by examining how the crusade, particularly the fight against heresy and the capture of Damietta in Egypt, was presented by a network of individuals involved in the promotion of the crusade movement to audiences in the crusader camp and on the home front. These individuals, most of them trained or active in Paris, include: Peter of Roissy, Absalon and John the Teuton, abbots of Saint Victor, Jacques de Vitry and Oliver of Paderborn, Innocent III and Honorius III, Philip the Chancellor, John Halgrin of Abbeville, Odo of Cheriton, Thomas of Chobham, and Odo of Châteauroux. Preachers adapted materials familiar from collections of sermones de tempore and de sanctis, that is, sermons for the dedication of churches (and the anniversary of them) and for the Purification of the Virgin Mary (Candlemas) to the preaching of the Fifth and Albigensian crusades and the crusade of Louis IX, and spiritual and psychological connections to the Holy Land and anti-heretical crusades were then rewoven back into sermons for the devotional year. This article is part of a larger project tracing this process, and a table of sermons consulted is appended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London, England on May 6, 2023. Topics mentioned include the sacramentality of the Westminster Abbey, the design of the embroidered screen by Aidan Hart, the motto during the coronation, and a description of liturgy, procession and interfaith aspects of the coronation.

The liturgical reform promoted by the Second Vatican Council led to a renewed way of celebrating the Mass entailing new ritual features and the drastic reduction of the use of Latin in favor of vernacular languages. Liturgical changes are still in act and present several problematic aspects fueling debates among Catholics. A significant category of interlocutors in these debates is constituted by the ordinary priests, who have both to apply the directives established by the Holy See and to engage with local communities. While the positions endorsed by ecclesiastic authorities are well known, scarce attention has been devoted to the priests' opinions and experience. This paper presents therefore the results of an ethnographic study investigating how Italian priests interpret the liturgical use of Latin in the contemporary socio-cultural context, what meanings and values they attribute to the ancient ritual, especially in comparison with the new one, and how they deal with the issue of the translation of sacred and liturgical texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a neglected funerary monument of the 1340s and its much-embellished architectural setting in the north aisle of the parish church of Ducklington (Oxon.). The monument takes the unusual form of a Tree of Jesse while the walls carry a series of sculptural reliefs depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin. It is argued that the space was a Lady chapel housing a chantry, and that the sculpture draws on imagery associated with the liturgy of the Mass and the liturgical hours to create an integrated devotional and commemorative programme of benefit to patrons and parishioners alike. The patrons have been traditionally identified as members of the Dyve family, long-standing proprietors of Ducklington manor until the mid-14th century. The connection is fully explored for the first time, drawing on antiquarian accounts of lost stained glass. Martha, widow of Henry Dyve (d. 1327) who held the manor in dower, is proposed as the likely originator of the monument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the paintings of the chapter-house of Sijena, most of which were destroyed by fire in 1936. To this end, the paper makes use of earlier photographic material, proposes a new reading of the biblical cycle, reconstructs the architectural and ornamental setting of the chapter-house and examines the historical and largely unknown liturgical context that lay behind the selection of images. The striking correspondence between the New Testament cycle at Sijena and the prefatory cycle of miniatures in the Melisende Psalter (1131–43), as well as the use in the nunnery of a liturgy based on that of the canons regular of the Holy Sepulchre and the presence of a Lignum crucis in the chapter-house, sheds light on Sijena's links to the art and liturgy of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and on Queen Sancha's motives as patron of this Hospitaller foundation. Thus, we hope to present a holistic interpretation of the chapter-house in relation to queenship, pious devotion and the evocation of the Holy Land. This ultimately points up the cross-cultural interests of the Kingdom of Aragon and its developing projection into the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars agree that Milton offers primarily a negative view of Russia in A Brief History of Moscovia, yet some have also identified positive descriptions of Russian czars, people, and church. Negative and positive descriptions work together in relation to Milton's view of the past and his focus on one state, offering a "Pattern or Example" that emerges from his distinctive political philosophy and represents his ethical concerns. Milton demonstrates that sovereigns and subjects must exercise their reason and liberty of choice to choose the common good over private interest; the church must reject superstition and formality to liberate the mind; and a Protestant tradition cultivates independence. These are realized by Aristotelian kings, a vigilant regenerate, and liberty of choice in liturgy and conscience. These ethical concerns offer at once a reproach to leaders and events and also ideas and rhetoric for framing late seventeenth-century political discourse that represents Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

They raised the questions of liturgy in the vernacular, lectionary-based liturgical preaching, awareness of the liturgical year, the tri-fold, triune structure of eucharistic anaphoras, and the education and formation of the assembly for participation in worship. We did so through I Homily Service, i a lectionary-based preaching resource which we published through 2010; and through periodic publications about aspects of the liturgical year or liturgical presiding. Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; ritualization; virtual worship; Liturgical Renewal Movement; Contemporary Praise and Worship Movement EN COVID-19 pandemic ritualization virtual worship Liturgical Renewal Movement Contemporary Praise and Worship Movement 1 4 4 11/01/21 20210701 NES 210701 Welcome to this issue of I Liturgy i , featuring articles by board members of the Liturgical Conference. [Extracted from the article]

17 Webber, I Evangelism i , 179-80. 18 Webber, I Worship i , 90-91. 19 Webber, I Faith i , 52. 20 Webber, I Worship i , 85. 21 Webber, I Faith i , 109. Keywords: Robert Webber; Ancient-Future; Mercersburg; Oxford Movement; Cambridge Movement; Chicago Call; evangelical worship; U2charist; techno-cosmic mass EN Robert Webber Ancient-Future Mercersburg Oxford Movement Cambridge Movement Chicago Call evangelical worship U2charist techno-cosmic mass 20 29 10 11/01/21 20210701 NES 210701 Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect Deceived me into thinking I had something to protect Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then I'm younger than that now -Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages" Introduction I had just begun my orientation as new faculty member at Loyola University in Chicago - an evangelical hired to teach liturgy and sacraments - when a venerable and a bit grizzled Jesuit approached me before the start of an orientation session on "The Values of a Jesuit Education." So, Webber immediately questions the relevance (read: success) of evangelical theology and ministry in postmodernity.[11] Arguing from the evangelical value of pragmatism, Webber calls into question evangelical worship practices. Robert (Bob) Webber was born in 1933 into a missionary family living then in Belgian Congo (later Zaire). [Extracted from the article]

The principle in eucharistic ecclesiology that the Eucharist is both constitutive of the Church and divinising for communicants has led to the insight that the eucharistic assembly (ekklesía) in Christ is 'transfigured in order to transfigure' (Zizioulas, 2011, 129–30). In the view of Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas, participation in the Eucharist transforms individuals into persons within a sacred community who then become not only stewards of the natural world, but 'priests' with a compelling ethos to care for all of creation. This article considers and gives context to the argument in eucharistic ecclesiology that the Eucharist is a 'cosmic liturgy' with implications for how the Church responds to the current environmental crisis. It describes the development of ideas of personhood from the Enlightenment through to the modern era, and how Christians can find in their tradition the call to lovingly transform the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will examine gender issues in hymnody through the lens of Wisdom theology and Foucault's subjugated ways of knowing. It interrogates the place of women in musical leadership in the history of Christianity and the nature of the hymnody that developed under male leadership. It analyses the dominant theology of traditional hymnody and calls for a rebalancing to include women's creations and feminist theology. It claims that greater attention needs to be paid to what is sung in liturgy as singing takes a theology deeper into human consciousness. It draws from the women's alternative worshipping groups as a case study and explores the obstacles to their representation in more public liturgy. It raises issues around the choosing of hymns and the obstacles in the way of a move towards a tradition that is more inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study deals with the question of how liturgical theology, articulating the close interconnections between liturgy and church, can contribute to a contemporary theory of church. It works with reflections on the church as expressed by two Protestant theologians, the American liturgical theologian Gordon W. Lathrop (1939) and the Czech practical theologian Pavel Filipi (1936–2015). The main theses of this study are that liturgy is a place where the joint vision of the church is formed, with the help of biblical imagination. Therefore, the perspective of liturgical theology can be beneficial for contemporary studies of churches, especially as they consider church reforms. This perspective reminds us of the theological view on the substance, function, and mission of the church in the contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article developed out of a symposium on gendered language for God, convened in April 2021 as part of the preparation for further initiatives in liturgical revision in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Across the Anglican Communion, revision projects have paid attention to gendered language, and especially gendered language for God, as part of a determination to include individuals whose needs and identities have been marginalised or ignored by the Church's language of prayer. The article surveys some of these projects, focusing in some detail on the Anglican Church of New Zealand and the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil. Both have discovered an idiom for composition which could inform other Anglican Provinces. In addition, any work of revision should take account of theological and literary considerations, as well as hearing directly from those it seeks to include. The survey ends by setting out key questions for future revisers, rather than proposing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the identity of the figure of Maryam, who is mentioned numerous times in the Qur'an. Maryam is called in the holy book of Islam the 'sister of Aaron' and 'the daughter of ʿImrān', and is also described as the mother of Jesus. This seeming contradiction regarding Maryam's identity has occupied classical Qur'an commentators as well as modern researchers. This article tracks the changes in Western research on the Qur'an regarding this issue to show how the trend in research has changed from a general position in which most researchers argued that the issue arises from a Muslim confusion to an approach that parallels to a greater extent the approach of Islamic exegesis, according to which all the qur'anic references to Maryam are to the same woman, who is the mother of Jesus. This article supports the earlier position that two separate Maryams — the sister of Moses and the mother of Jesus — have overlapped in the figures described in the relevant scriptural passages. My thesis differs, however, in positing that this simultaneity is 'deliberate', and reflects certain Pentateuchal and Rabbinic literary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the Qur'an's position regarding Jesus's death. It maintains that the classical exegetes read Q 4.157 as a monophony—hearing a sole melodic voice that denies Jesus's death and crucifixion. The exegetes cited their monophonic reading of Q 4.157 as the lens through which they interpreted Q 19.33; 3.55 and 5.117. The resulting sound is cacophonous. Allusions to Jesus's death are rejected, surrounding context is muted, biblical subtext is ignored, and there are syntactical, linguistic, grammatical and theological inconsistencies. This article recommends that Q 4.157 be read instead as a polyphony. A polyphonic reading allows three distinct melodies to be heard: defending Jesus from the boast of the Jews, declaring the triumphant victory of rūḥ Allāh (the spirit of God) over the strength of man, and proclaiming God's control over life and death. The resulting sound is harmonious. These melodies are accordant with the other three verses concerning Jesus's death and, in unison, affirm rather than deny it. Reading Q 4.157 as a polyphonic symphony resolves the apparent discord between the Islamic and Christian views regarding Jesus's death into a more profound, unexpected harmony—establishing a new opening for future Muslim–Christian dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, climate displacement, liturgy, preaching, migration, God on the move, God the primordial migrant, pacific, journey, Pacific churches, Oceania Here "God's migration is out of what is divine into what is not divine, the "other" of God, a movement that bears all the marks of human migration."[47] In the creative act, God experiences for the first time the precarious, marginalized, threatened, and endangered condition of the migrant. Keywords: Climate change; climate displacement; liturgy; preaching; migration; God on the move; God the primordial migrant; pacific; journey; Pacific churches; Oceania EN Climate change climate displacement liturgy preaching migration God on the move God the primordial migrant pacific journey Pacific churches Oceania 26 35 10 05/04/21 20210401 NES 210401 The Pacific, "the liquid continent", is among a number of countries in the world on the forefront of climate change. Phan argues that the Christian God can be understood as a I Deus Migrator i in God's trifold act of creation (God the Father), incarnation/redemption (God the Son), and consummation (God the Holy Spirit). [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Great Resignation; pastoral transitions; liturgy of release; parish mergers EN Great Resignation pastoral transitions liturgy of release parish mergers 4 6 3 07/05/22 20220401 NES 220401 The Liturgical Conference appreciates all of you, the readers of I Liturgy i . We can proclaim that since Christ is resurrected, his church cannot die, even as individual parishes and their members may be incorporated into the Body of Christ via other congregations and ministries in the future. The entry of clergy into a new congregation is facilitated by the healthy leave-taking of the prior clergy. [Extracted from the article]

A consideration of liturgy and hope is both pastorally and academically important, because liturgy both expresses and invites hope in myriad ways. Hope, assembly, disappointment, Liturgy, optimism Keywords: Liturgy; hope; assembly; optimism; disappointment EN Liturgy hope assembly optimism disappointment 1 3 3 07/05/22 20220401 NES 220401 Lord Jesus Christ, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion on the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Religious affections; emotion; feelings; prayer; liturgy; exuberance; restraint; practices; virtues EN Religious affections emotion feelings prayer liturgy exuberance restraint practices virtues 4 10 7 02/24/21 20210101 NES 210101 There is nothing more obvious yet more contested than the role of emotion and feeling in Christian prayer and worship. Among those who worship God it is often said that the language of worship and prayer is the "language of the heart." He connects restraint in worship (in his case liturgical "rites") with discipline and formation in the mystery of faith and salvation I over time. i Churches, even seemingly culturally homogeneous ones, are made up of many kinds of people with diverse patterns of sensibility (how we respond to suffering, social conflict, goodness, and our own mortality). For the Christian and Jewish communities of worship, the biblical psalms provide the affective basis of prayer and liturgy. [Extracted from the article]