Liturgical Studies: Disciplines, Perspectives, Teaching

Abstract

As a field of study, liturgical studies encompasses three disciplinary areas and relates to a number of different perspectives. This article surveys the landscape of liturgical study first by examining the work of prominent scholars in each of the disciplinary areas: Robert Taft and Paul Bradshaw in liturgical history, Geoffrey Wainwright and Gordon Lathrop in liturgical theology, and Mark Searle and Lawrence Hoffman in the study of liturgy as ritual and symbolic event. Three factors common to the work across disciplinary areas are noted: a turn to liturgy as practiced as the object of study, an anthropological turn in the method of study, and an orientation to the present practice of worship in the aim of study. The survey of the field continues with an exploration of perspectives in liturgical study related to liturgical reform and renewal, cultural contexts, liberation theologies, Pentecostal practice, and postmodern thought and culture. Each of these perspectives involves a scholarly discourse, a communal location (or locations), and a practical impact. Each perspective also proposes an alternative to conventional liturgical understanding and practice using a different principal source toward a distinctive aim. The article concludes with the sketch of a teaching approach to liturgical study that focuses on liturgy as a communal practice, specifically God's mission in the practice of assembly. It suggests how an orientation to the practice of Christian assembly might integrate the disciplines of liturgical study and how an orientation to God's mission might serve to negotiate the diverse perspectives.