Liturgical Dogmatics: How Catholic Beliefs Flow from Liturgical Prayer by David W. Fagerberg

Abstract

Reviewed by: Liturgical Dogmatics: How Catholic Beliefs Flow from Liturgical Prayer by David W. Fagerberg Matthew Dugandzic David W. Fagerberg Liturgical Dogmatics: How Catholic Beliefs Flow from Liturgical Prayer San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2021 262 pages. Paperback. $19.95. Trite as it might sound to repeat the dictum that theology ought to be done on one's knees, this is an apt description of David Fagerberg's approach to what he calls "Liturgical Dogmatics," the aim of which is to see—in a noetic sense—the dogmas of the Church with liturgically formed "eyes." This is perhaps the most unique feature of Fagerberg's book; it is neither purely devotional nor academic, but some amalgam of the two. The book is essentially a long, heartfelt reflection on a series of dogmas through a liturgical lens that aims to make the reader's mind and heart resonate with the author's. The distinctiveness of this approach cannot be overemphasized. In adopting this approach, Fagerberg explicitly eschews examining dogma and liturgy in the overly formal "philosophical categories" (14) of the scholastics, and yet the book borrows its "structural outline from dogmatics" (15). The approach thus combines logic and poetry, argument and reflection, word and image, such that it cannot be reduced to any member of these dyads. The title of this book is therefore more suitable than it might first appear, as the book's style is, in a sense, liturgical. In a word, for this book, the medium very much is the message. The method is a bold one, and Fagerberg pulls it off with great success, but like any method, it also has its weaknesses. Among the greatest strengths of Fagerberg's quasi-liturgical analysis of dogma is the breadth of influences on which he draws. Although Fagerberg deliberately avoids footnotes (11–12) and limits explicit references to other scholars and to writers of ages past, the discerning eye can identify influences from both east and west, from writers old and new, and from both liturgical and theological sources. For example, Fagerberg's avoidance of the overly formal style of the scholastics does not prevent him from using scholastic categories, nor does his clear admiration for the East prevent him [End Page 90] from borrowing elements from Byzantine thought that might shock those of the Western tradition. Consequently, Aquinas's essence-existence distinction is used harmoniously alongside Palamas's essence-energies distinction with not so much as a hint that there might be any incompatibility between the two. The book also draws copiously on examples from the liturgical texts of both the Roman and Byzantine liturgies. Of particular interest regarding the former is the use of prayers that are found in both the Tridentine Mass as well as the post-conciliar Roman Missal, which feels like a deliberate attempt to reinforce one of the book's implicit messages: that any authentic liturgical act of the Church can shed some light on dogma, regardless of its provenance. The only fault to be found here is that Fagerberg draws almost exclusively on the words of the liturgy, and not on the gestures or images to be found therein, the inclusion of which would seem to be in better harmony with the overall approach of the book. When Fagerberg's method and the breadth that he brings to it are considered together, another major strength of this book is brought to light: this book presents a veritable challenge to its reader. It is not simply the case that this book is hard to read, though the mixing of literary genres can make it so at times, but rather that this book will challenge whatever liturgical presuppositions the reader brings to the table. Fagerberg's enthusiasm for the liturgy in all its forms is infectious, such that the traditionalist and the modernist, and the Roman and the Byzantine, will all be made to consider the value of a variety of forms of liturgical expression, each of which can contribute positively to one's spiritual life and, more to the point, to the illumination of dogma in one's mind. Furthermore, in addition to the breadth of sources that Fagerberg draws on, there is also...