Abstract
This review article offers an engagement with Nicholas Wolterstorff’s recent publication, Acting liturgically: Philosophical reflections on religious practice. It begins by contextualising the project, tracing Wolterstorff’s lifelong interest in liturgy, as documented in his memoir, In this world of wonders. This is followed by a careful exposition of each of the book’s four sections (with the headings “Liturgy, Enactments and Scripts,” “Liturgy and Scripture,” “God in the Liturgy” and “Liturgy, Love and Justice”). The article concludes with a few critical observations about the book in which it is shown why this is indeed a significant text which makes an important contribution to the (philosophical) study of liturgy.
Highlights
In the opening section of his Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas argued that the task of the theologian, or the Christian philosopher for that matter, is to study God and all things in relation to God.[1]
Already with early Christian thinkers such as Theodore Mopsuentia, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as Amalarius of Metz, we find, for example, a tendency to employ the language of theatre when speaking about worship,[33] and it is notable that many later forms of religious dramas, including, for example, the medieval mystery plays, the Corpus Christi plays, as well as the Auto Sacramentales in Spain, developed out of, and could be seen as extensions of, the church’s liturgies.[34]
While the topics dealt with might be familiar to those who are interested in liturgy and/or regularly attend worship services, the way in which Wolterstorff approaches these topics is unusual, to the extent that the text might, at times, come across as estranging – both to liturgical scholars and ordinary churchgoers alike
Summary
In the opening section of his Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas argued that the task of the theologian, or the Christian philosopher for that matter, is to study God and all things in relation to God.[1]. Towards the end of the essay, I will offer a few observations about the book as a whole and look at the potential value of this study for both philosophical and theological reflections on liturgy going forward, as Wolterstorff believes that the project opens up “new and unfamiliar” avenues which “beckon to be explored” by others.[5]
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