‘The Latin literature of liturgical interpretation: defining a genre and method’, Studia Liturgica, 43.1 (2013), 76-92. (original) (raw)
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The liturgical reforms of the 20th century within the western (specifically Roman Catholic) church are popularly interpreted according to one's conceptions of the liturgical developments ordered by the Council of Trent. This paper seeks to investigate the nature of the liturgical spirit of the latter part of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, from circa 1474-1630, tracing the development of the Mass from the rite of the Roman Curia through the promulgation of the 1570 missal and ending with the breviary of Urban VIII, showing that although changes were made along the way, the reforms of the period were made in order to maintain the textual and ritual tradition of the preceding 500 years, although this is more so true of the Mass than of the Divine Office. Finally, the paper concludes with a reflection upon the historiographical terminology used to refer to this period which illuminates the liturgical reforms themselves.
Lex orandi, lex credendi Towards a liturgical theology
2001
In his apostolic constitution defining the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, Pope Pius XII states that "the liturgy of the Church does not engender the Catholic faith, but rather springs from it, in such a way that the practices of the sacred worship proceed from the faith as the fruit comes from the tree." 1 Such a notion, apart from the context, sounds reasonable to many contemporary Christians. As the recent liturgical reforms have proceeded throughout the churches, there has been a liturgical ressourcement that has kept pace with the similar "return to the sources" in theological disciplines. The theological articulation of the churches has itself been reviewed and reformed, through ecumenical encounter and conciliar reflection. The liturgical reform movement has reflected the considerable rapprochement of the churches. From an ecumenical perspective, one can appreciate the great advances towards Christian unity that have been made visible through the liturgical reforms.
The purpose of this book is to explore what a liturgical approach to the Bible looks like and what hermeneutical implications this might have: How does the liturgy celebrate, understand, and communicate Scripture? The starting point is Pope Benedict's affirmation that "a faith-filled understanding of sacred Scripture must always refer back to the liturgy" ( Verbum Domini 52). The first part of the book (based on SC 24) provides significant examples to demonstrate: The liturgical order of readings intertextually combines Old Testament and New Testament readings using manifold hermeneutical principles, specifically how the psalms show the wide range of interpretations the liturgy employs. Prayers are biblically inspired and help to appropriate Scripture personally. The hymns convey Scripture in a poetic way. Signs and actions such as foot-washing or the Ephphetha rite enact Scripture. The study considers the Mass, the sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours. In the second part, Benini systematically focuses on the various dimensions of liturgical hermeneutics of the Bible, which emerge from the first part. The study reflects the approaches the liturgy offers to Scripture and its liturgical reception. It explores theological aspects such as the unity of the two Testaments in Christ’s paschal mystery or the anamnesis as a central category in both Scripture and liturgy. The liturgy does not understand Scripture primarily as a document of the past, but celebrates it as a current and living "Word of the Lord," as a medium of encounter with God: Scripture is sacramental. Liturgical Hermeneutics of Sacred Scripture seeks to contribute not only to the comparison of the Roman, Ambrosian, and Byzantine Rite regarding the Word of God, but most of all to the overall "liturgical approach" to Scripture. As such, it promotes an interdisciplinary dialogue of liturgical and biblical studies.
Scripture and Liturgy, an exclusive means to understand the Church
Bibliotheca Victorina XXIX, 2021
Imbued with the thought of Hugh of St. Victor, though inauthentic, the Speculum Ecclesiae gives both an allegorical and theological explanation of the mysteries of the Church, i.e. the liturgy, the Scriptures and the principal mysteries of the Christian faith. This contribution focuses primarily on the comparison between the Speculum Ecclesiae and the Sententiae de divinitate of Hugh of St. Victor. These two texts share a description of the genera veri, which is not found - except for the Miscellanea - in any other Hugh’s work. But also the question of the senses of scripture, which highlights a singular attempt to reconcile a threefold and a fourfold subdivision that would culminate in the anagogic sense, the highest and most spiritual.
INTERPRETING LATIN LITURGICAL PSALTERS Outlines of the Research
2017
A survey of the liturgical Psalter may be conducted from three perspectives: (1) As a phenomenon of medieval book production, the Psalter can be evaluated as to its content and composition. (2) The set of textual and melodic items, their arrangement and variability, i.e. the assignation of each item to an exact place within the weekly cycle, a “hard structure”, can be submitted to an analysis similar to the one used for Office Propers. (3) The methods for the so-called Office Ordinary and its supplements, i.e. the parts which belong to the daily cycle of the Divine Office and cannot be described in terms of strict assignations, are rather similar to the ones applied to the ordines beyond the Mass and the Office, the “soft structures”. In the following, a methodology will be outlined with some key points where a preliminary research has been sufficient to describe the main tasks and possible outcomes of a more comprehensive study.
A Classification of a Liturgy’s Use of Scripture: A Proposal
Studia Liturgica, 2019
The relationship between scripture and Christian liturgy is one that was discussed and assumed in much of the liturgical and ecumenical literature in the twentieth century. The majority of that work focused on the use of the Bible within liturgical rites in general and not within the text of specific liturgical rites. This article is a constructive proposal of a comprehensive taxonomy to describe all the possible ways that a liturgical text can appropriate scripture as a source. Such attention to the ways biblical texts and exegesis are reflected in euchological texts not only has the potential to provide clarity on how the early Christians related to the Bible in general and within their liturgical rites. It may also provide an additional source for answering questions about the dating and provenance of particular rites by identifying the overlap with strains of patristic exegesis, for which we possess significant evidence.