Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg

Abstract

Reviewed by: Liturgical Mysticism by David Fagerberg Kevin D. Magas David Fagerberg Liturgical Mysticism Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2019 xxi + 171 pages. Hardback. $29.95. Lambert Beauduin, one of the chief pioneers of the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement, believed that "[the] liturgy is theology, not scientifically expounded, but applied to the art of glorifying God and sanctifying souls."1 This deepened, "thickened" understanding of the theological dimensions of the liturgical act pioneered by the Liturgical Movement and crystallized in the conciliar Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy has been developed and enriched by the liturgical theologian David Fagerberg over the course of his career. Fagerberg's entire theological project has been dedicated to articulating the contours of liturgical theology understood as theologia prima, the "primary theology" of the Trinitarian life of God communicated, epiphanized, and opened up for our participation in the liturgical life of the Church. His most recent work, Liturgical Mysticism, brings cohesiveness and consistency to a liturgical vision Fagerberg began to develop over thirty years ago; as such, it can only be understood in light of his project as a whole. His first work, Theologia Prima (revised edition, 2003), sought to deepen our understanding of liturgical theology by thickening the meaning of both "liturgy" and "theology" and exploring how the lex orandi of the Church is the foundation for her lex credendi. He came to understand that the relationship between liturgy and theology required an appeal to the ascetical dimension of Christian life which "capacitates" one to participate in liturgy, understood by Fagerberg as the "perichoresis of the Trinity kenotically extended to [End Page 141] invite our synergistic ascent into deification" (xvi). He explores this theme at length in his work Liturgical Asceticism (2013) and applies this liturgical-ascetical vision to our daily life in the world in his Consecrating the World (2016). Liturgical mysticism, then, is interested in how this liturgical participation in divine life is applied to the soul. What happens in us when our personal liturgy synchronizes with the Son's self-offering to the Father in the power of the Spirit? Here Fagerberg is interested in the connections between the visible, sacramental rites of the liturgy and their invisible, mystical fruition in the life of the Christian. He offers, in his prologue, an eloquent thesis that ties together his previous work: "Liturgical Mysticism is the development of graces received in baptism; liturgical asceticism is the process which develops those graces; the product of those graces is a liturgical theologian who is enlightened. Liturgical mysticism wants to know what is done inside a person by the liturgy" (xviii–xix). Fagerberg's first chapter lays the methodological foundations for the idea of liturgical mysticism he is interested in pursuing. Readers familiar with Fagerberg's work will recognize the characteristic moves he makes near the beginnings of his works to define his terms and clear up misconceptions that arise when we treat certain theological terms in a "thin," reductionist way. Fagerberg's concept requires that liturgy be not merely the rubrics or external ceremonies but participation in divine life; mysticism must be understood not as the esoteric, enigmatic, or otherworldly, but the actualization of baptismal graces through transformative contact with the mysteries of Christ encountered in the liturgy. In short, the key to a proper hermeneutic for understanding Fagerberg is to understand how key terms are functioning in the "language game" he is playing (see Ludwig Wittgenstein). Chapters 2 and 3 attempt to purify our associations and images of the mystical life, moving the reader from a mysticism that is something rare, extraordinary, individualistic and for the "professional" (i.e., the monk in his cell) to an understanding that is corporate, ecclesial, and within the realm of the ordinary baptized Christian, precisely because it is the unfolding and flowering of sanctifying grace received in baptism as a seed (semen gloriae). Fagerberg elo-quently [End Page 142] describes this process as a "quickening," an animating, a "making alive" of baptismal grace. Notable here is Fagerberg's development of this theme using the works of Dominican spiritual theologians of the early twentieth century, such as Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange and Juan Arintero. While readers will encounter Fagerberg's characteristic...