Liturgy, Virtue, and the Foundations of an Ecclesial Ethic

Abstract

The connection between liturgy and ethics has been an explicit subject of interest among Christian theologians since the second half of the twentieth century. However, most calls for a substantive integration of worship and Christian morality have proceeded in a single direction. Liturgy provides the foundations of an ecclesial ethic that is directed primarily outward as a witness to the world. A troubling consequence of this general approach to linking liturgy and ethics is that the church, situated in an iconic or kerygmatic role, rarely turns its ethical attention inward. In this essay, I offer a reading of the relationship between liturgy and ethics that may begin to overcome these limitations. In dialogue with Orthodox theologians Alexander Schmemann and Vigen Guroian, I propose a renewed emphasis on the eschatological dimension of eucharistic liturgy that, when theorized through the lens of virtue ethics, can yield a more dynamic, inward-facing ecclesial ethic.