Beyond Smells and Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy (Paperback)

by Mark Galli (Author) "THE LITURGY LIVES OUT A STORY IN A STORY-DEPRIVED WORLD..." (more)
Key Phrases: liturgical worship, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Morning Prayer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
At a time when magazines and journals are documenting the upsurge of interest in liturgy and ritual, a book from the senior managing editor of Christianity Today would seem well-timed. Unfortunately Galli, trying to cover all the bases from Eastern Orthodox to Presbyterian in exploring how liturgy helps to cultivate God's people, speaks too broadly and generically for an audience that is just discovering and trying to fathom formal worship traditions. Galli thoughtfully addresses the way in which liturgy shapes us in general, by changing our focus, sense of time and culture. But the lack of specific examples (in an effort to be inclusive) leaves readers with theory that may be difficult to translate into Sunday morning worship. However, Galli's love of the liturgy is clear, and his own stories of the way it has engaged and changed him over time are informative. The book's three appendixes (a glossary of common liturgical terms, a comparison of the order of worship in various traditions and a description of the seasons of the Christian year) will be helpful to newcomers to church traditions. (Apr.)
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Product Description

Liturgy lures us through our senses, grounds us in a great tradition, and plants us in the midst of a diverse community, present and past.

From our beginnings, Americans have tried on various religions, rituals, and philosophies in the quest for a unique and personal spirituality. But recently, we have seen a quiet and steadily growing fascination with orthodoxy, tradition, and the lasting rituals of the Christian faith. Are you attracted to liturgy but don't know why? Are you wondering about committing yourselves to a liturgical tradition? Are you immersed in liturgy and want to grasp its deeper significance? Beyond Smells and Bells answers these questions and more: It explains how liturgy not only broadens our understanding but also shapes our very lives.

In today's individualistic culture, we need liturgy to establish us in community. In a culture that values spontaneity, liturgy grounds us in something enduring. In a culture that assumes truth is a product of the mind, liturgy helps us experience truth in both mind and body. In a world demanding instant gratification and immediate relevance, liturgy gives us patience to perceive a deeper relevance and joy that the larger culture can hardly perceive. In Mark Galli's able telling, liturgy is an intriguing story, full of mystery, that transforms us in body, mind, and spirit.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 142 pages
• Publisher: Paraclete Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557255210
• ISBN-13: 978-1557255211
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #115,289 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How the liturgy transforms us, May 21, 2008

By	A. Rowe - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a recent convert to the liturgy (from Bible churches to an Anglican church) and found this book insightful and provocative. Rather than a practical guide to the liturgy (there are plenty of those out there, with titles like "Why do Catholics do what they do?"), Galli explores ways that God uses the liturgy to transform our minds, bodies, and spirits, as we participate in it with other believers over time.

The subject matter is deep and philosophical by nature, but Galli presents it in an engaging style that is easy to follow and leaves room for one's own continued reflection on the ideas. I have found myself thinking about things he wrote even weeks after finishing the book, as I read, pray, think, and worship. It has helped me enjoy the liturgy more as well, as I think about the ways it is counter-cultural, counter-intuitive, and transformative each week.

One of my favorite things about the book is Galli's willingness to be honest about himself - from spiritual struggles ("To be honest, I do not want to love God perfectly . . . I need a break from God every now and then") to his relationship with his wife ("I was infatuated with this woman because I was fascinated with me. I imagined [my wife] was a version of me with whom I could have guilt-free sex"). In a book whose subject matter could become purely academic, he makes it clear that the liturgy is, for him, a very real and deeply personal matter. I found this encouraging, not only because I saw myself in many of his examples, but also because it demonstrated how the liturgy can also be so deeply personal for me, helping me encounter God with such honesty myself.

My favorite chapter was 12, "Living in the Trinity: How the Liturgy Changes Us at the Very Core of Our Being." Galli explores how the liturgy draws us into the union of the Trinity and community with others. The liturgy helps make real for us the truth that we are "partakers of the divine nature." I found this chapter to be the most thought-provoking. He also explores the issue of "relevance" that is often so prized by churches, in a way that is compelling and gracious. Overall, a quick read that leaves a lot to chew on.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Introduction to Liturgy, May 7, 2008

By	Billy Tucker "Perpetual Student" (St. Louis, Missouri) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those of us whose Christian worship experience has been Low Church, this book is a fine introduction to the liturgical tradition. Galli's heartfelt passion for the liturgy is displayed on each page, while he correctly identifies some of the weaknesses in pop Christianity's modern (should we say "seeker friendly") worship. He notes, "Self-identified relevant churches, by their nature, limit a full-bodied expression of the church." Rather than try to pinpoint a specific target audience, liturgical worship transcends constantly changing cultural emphases.

Is it possible that liturgy is the remedy to the modern church's addiction to man-centered "relevancy?" Read this book. There is much fuel for future debate.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liturgy Impresses, the Personality of Christ Upon Us, June 18, 2008

By	David W. Kaiser (Canton, Ohio, USa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mark Galli goes beyond the externals of liturgy, which in themselves are impressive, to the heart of the reason for liturgy. In the continued worship style debates contemporary worship is seen as being a genuine expression of "our" feelings toward God, however Galli brings out that the primary purpose of the church's heritage of 2000 years of worship was to impress the Personality of Christ upon us. And secondly, through the liturgy, the Holy Spirit brings us not only communion with Christ, but forms us into a body with others. Whereas, contemporary worship's focus is on self expression, the "I" is center, and frames the picture in modern faddish terms and music that are here today and maybe gone tomorrow. Liturgy frames our picture in biblical and early Christian Church forms of expression. In liturgy we join the communion of saints of all ages in the eternal song of God's love for mankind. A good book for those that find themselves attracted to the liturgical route of the Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodoxy and don't know why. This book takes us beyond the ponderous and the repetitious first impression of the liturgical service to the Spirit that animates it.