Abstract
This article examines whether and how sacramental liturgy and the Christian life-ethic are intrinsically related, a fundamental problematic in theory and practice in the decades since Vatican Council II. The first half of the essay examines the state of the question, starting with a brief articulation of the normative tradition based in scripture and the council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, followed by a selective review of the theological discussion, centered on Don E. Saliers’s virtue-ethics approach. The second half, building on a thesis of Johann Baptist Metz, argues for poverty of spirit as the key virtue for practically bonding liturgy and ethics.
Highlights
This article examines whether and how sacramental liturgy and the Christian life-ethic are intrinsically related, a fundamental problematic in theory and practice in the decades since Vatican Council II
The first half of the essay examines the state of the question, starting with a brief articulation of the normative tradition based in scripture and the council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, followed by a selective review of the theological discussion, centered on Don E
To think about the relationship between liturgy and ethics is to think of the latter not as a deductive system of principles for personal and social behavior but, rather, in broader terms of the images, personages, myths and narratives, symbols and rituals, affections and virtues, as well as principles, by which people shape their views of the world and how to live justly within it.[1]
Summary
Sacramental liturgy is the means whereby Christians, not least in the very assembling as Christ’s body, are empowered by (biblical) word and symbols making explicit for them the mystery of salvation God’s Spirit is working out so often in hidden or scattered ways across their lives and in wider society.[16] The people of God must continuously come together on the Lord’s Day to gather and share the fragmented stories of their lives as a participation in the human story of God.[17] the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy’s rhetoric for the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, as the source (or fountain) and summit of the church’s mission in its members.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call