A Short History of the Western Liturgy: An Account and Some Reflections by Theodor Klauser

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 525 Book of Revelation the authors give us only a sketchy treatise on the rest of the book. Illustrations abound throughout this text, as also a number of maps and a few charts. Although one of the maps shows the cities of Asia Minor, the journeys of St. Paul are not traced. A few Catholic sources are cited (the Jerusalem Bible, the Anchor Bible on John, Robert & Feuillet's Introduction to the New Testament); however, the majority of Catholic scholars go unnoticed: Benoit, Leon-Dufour, Cerfaux, Ahern, Stanley, etc. Had this emerging segment of scholarship been more widely represented, certain lacunae in the text might have been avoided, e. g., M. E. Boismard's probable theory as to the liturgical origin of I Peter; also, the analysis of the Book of Revelation into an historical (chaps. I-ll) and apocalyptic (chaps. 12-22) perspective popularized by Feuillet and other Catholic scholars. In spite of this shortcoming, however, the "Anatomy of the New Testament" can be used profitably as an aid to understanding that portion of Sacred Scripture. University of Dallas Irving, Texas MARTIN HoPKINs, 0. P. A Short History of the Western Liturgy: An Account and Some Reflections. By THEODOR KLAUSER. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969. Pp. 246. $8.00. This book has a long and varied history. It began in 1943 when Theodore Klauser wrote a short history of the Western liturgy. Various translations appeared (including an English one), and the book in time was enlarged and revised. It is the 1965 revised German edition that now appears in English translation. The book is excellent. The author presents a brief survey of liturgical history, drawing upon liturgical sources and expert opinion of modern liturgical scholarship. The chief difficulty with the book lies in the enormity of the task. Any attempt to summarize briefly the vast field of Western liturgical history is bound to contain certain limitations. At times one feels that only those who have done extensive reading in liturgical history could appreciate Klauser's efforts; yet, from another point of view, the work can serve as a most helpful introduction to the field and as an incentive for further investigation and study. The author divides the liturgical history of the West into four periods, which give us the four chapters of the book: the first to Gregory the Great; the second to Gregory VII; the third to the Council of Trent; and 5~6 BOOK REVIEWS the fourth to the Second Vatican Council. In each case he first gives a brief survey of the period and then discusses and analyzes certain liturgical phenomena of the period which give it its characteristic marks-this the book's sub-title. The first period is described as the "period of creative beginnings." A delineation is made as to what was of Jewish origin, what of Hellenistic, and what early Christianity added of its own. Attention is paid to the contribution of Hippolytus and the " mystery " element of early worship. The second period embraces the " expansion under Franco-German leadership ." This chapter is most helpful. The reader may find much information here that could be gleaned only by consulting rather difficult technical works; this is true particularly as to the provenance, date, etc., of the liturgical books. Among other things, an interesting detailed description of a papal mass (c. 700) according to Ordo I is given. The Franco-German contribution is evaluated, and the reader understands why " we ought to be grateful to the Franco-German Church not only for having salvaged the Roman liturgy, but also for having enriched it." (p. 77) The third period is " the era of luxuriant growth in which the liturgy was both re-interpreted and also misinterpreted." It is during this period that the popes, beginning with Gregory VII, took into their own hands once more the task of leadership in the realm of the Roman liturgy. The practice of priests saying private masses spread-a symptom of the dissolution of the liturgical community; the liturgy comes to be viewed as exclusively a priestly duty. The final period extends to the Second Vatican Council and is characterized as " the age of a rigid...