Customer Reviews

Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The early chapters of this work are both engrossing and likely to spur reflection. The excellent descriptions of various areas of liturgical theology not only provide the reader with significant background but include "eye catching" points which make well-known liturgical formulae suddenly have at least three new, powerful meanings. For example, Lathrop's explanations of how Jesus used metaphor in His parables, and of how this gives varied meanings to the "holy things" of worship, are exceptional.

The later sections of the book, for example those dealing with the "meal" aspects of worship, did not have the clarity and beauty which the beginning seemed to promise. Lathrop proposes questions without offering possible answers, and those (who are not of Lathrop's degree of knowledge in the subject) who seek to use this book to improve worship in their congregations may well be left with feeling they are back where they started.

Lathrop's book is wortwhile and interesting, but rather limited in its application.

Lathrop takes up Alexandre Schmemann's concept of
the _ordo_ and runs with it...a very helpful ecumenical
approach to liturgical theology. Lathrop organizes his
thought around clear, penetrating images and experiences
of the liturgy. His _Holy People: A Liturgical Ecclesiology_
is also a good find.

I first read this book shortly after it was publihsed. Initially, I wasn't overly impressed. But I have it now read five or six times, and I am continually amazed by how this book has shaped my thinking and understanding of the liturgy. Maybe I'm a bit slow, but, rather, I think Lathrop's book is so rich that it merits numerous readings. It is not a "how to" book, but, probably more importantly, it gets you to think a lot about what we do when we gather around word and table. Being able to think profoundly about what we are doing is probably ultimately more powerful than blindly and fadishly following another person's how-to list.

I hate books on liturgics or liturgical theology that use strings of adjectives to construct paragraphs. This work elevates that form of writing to an art form! Liturgical/sacramental theology is THE source of renewal for the church today, especially the small inner city congregation. This work does NOTHING to move the cause along.