T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy ed. by Alcuin Reid

Abstract

Reviewed by: T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy ed. by Alcuin Reid Veronica A. Arntz Alcuin Reid, ed. T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016 xix + 584 pages. Hardbound. $176.00. The T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy offers an expansive, scholarly study of its subject, primarily from a Roman Catholic perspective, but also including one essay on the liturgy from an Anglican view. Many prestigious thinkers, historians, and liturgists have contributed to the volume, including david Fagerberg, Daniel G. Van Slyke, Alcuin Reid (editor), Anscar J. Chupungco, O.S.B., and Uwe Michael Lang, among others. As the editor explains in the introduction, this collection beautifully brings together many different positions so that the careful reader will find a balance and diversity of ideas and thoughts, rather than relying on one particular angle. Moreover, this work contains diverse themes, helpfully arranged in historical chronological order. It is divided into five parts. The first part is brief, and asks the question of "What is the Liturgy?" [End Page 296] The second part looks at liturgy in history, beginning with the Jewish roots of Christian liturgy and its practice in the early Church. Medieval liturgy is also considered in this section, along with the Roman missal of the Council of Trent. Other specific topics are discussed here as well within the context of the medieval era, including the seven sacraments, the Divine Office, and Gregorian chant. The third section importantly studies the liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, with particular attention to the council's liturgical document, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The fourth part looks at themes in contemporary liturgical studies, touching on topics such as pastoral liturgy, vernacular liturgy, music, architecture, and the usus antiquior. The fifth and final part includes a glossary of key words for discussing and understanding the sacred liturgy. The kaleidoscope of themes within the volume is oriented toward one goal, namely answering the questions: what is liturgy, what has been its practice throughout history, and how should we celebrate the liturgy today? This important enquiry reminds us to be cognizant of the fact that the liturgy has been subject to organic developments in the past. With the history of liturgy in mind, we can thus adequately consider the questions of liturgical development in our own time. As an example of an organic liturgical development in history, James Monti shows in his contribution ("Late Medieval Liturgy: A Celebration of Emmanuel—'God with Us'") how, as appreciation for the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist increased in the course of the Middle Ages, so too did the desire for "a fitting response of worship in the form of liturgical actions expressing the adoration of the people and clergy alike" (96). Such research is useful in addressing the key question how we should celebrate the liturgy today, following the Second Vatican Council. Within this collection of essays, we see diversity in opinion, yet one thing becomes clear by the end of the work: most of the scholars agree that those who implemented the changes in the post-conciliar period went beyond what the council fathers had desired. Such arguments, then, are no longer the opinions of "peripheral theologians," but are the real pronouncements of multiple prominent scholars. [End Page 297] By way of example, on the one hand, Anscar J. Chupungco, O.S.B. argues the following, "Active participation is the bedrock of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Without it the Constitution falls apart" (266). He continues, "The Constitution regards the use of the vernacular in the liturgy as essential in order to realize its fundamental vision of active participation. … Vernacular texts that do not foster active participation are of little use for the renewed liturgy" (273). While recognizing the twofold sense of the phrase participatio actuosa, Cupungco emphasizes its meaning as "external action done with energy" (267). On the other hand, Bruce E. Harbert writes, "Few people imagined in the early 1960s that the entire Catholic liturgy would be celebrated in the vernacular, and those who did could find no support for their view in the documents of the Council" (383). Such a difference in interpretations reveals the difficult nature of...