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Alexander Schmemann

For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy Paperback – March 1, 1997

by Alexander Schmemann (Author)

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In For the Life of the World Alexander Schmemann suggests an approach to the world and life within it, which stems from the liturgical experience of the Orthodox Church. He understands issues such as secularism and Christian culture from the perspective of the unbroken experience of the Church, as revealed and communicated in her worship, in her liturgy - the sacrament of the world, the sacrament of the Kingdom.

Print length

151 pages
Language

English
Publisher

St. Vladimir's Seminary Press
Publication date

March 1, 1997
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0913836087
ISBN-13

978-0913836088
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Father Alexander Schmemann (+1983) was a prolific writer, brilliant lecturer, and dedicated pastor. Former dean and professor of liturgical theology at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, his insight into contemporary culture and liturgical celebration left an indelible mark on the Christian community worldwide.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Vladimir's Seminary Press; 2nd Revised & enlarged edition (March 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 151 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0913836087
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0913836088
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #64,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #17 in Christian Orthodoxy (Books)
- #33 in Worship Sacraments
- #36 in Christian Institutions & Organizations (Books)

Customer Reviews:
103 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		75%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Mark E. Cornelius

While deep enough to satisfy a theology students needs it is not overly professorial

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2017

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This is one of the most important books to be written, if one desires to gain at least a rudmentary understanding of the Eastern Orthodox Christian perspective of the sacramental life of the believing Body of Christ. While deep enough to satisfy a theology students needs it is not overly professorial. Fr. Alexander moves masterfully through the concepts he desires the reader to gain yet remains understandable to an average lay person. It was a life transforming book for me and continues to be a staple well source of quotations through many years.

8 people found this helpful

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Shadow_Wanderer

Inspiring

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2016

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I just finished reading this book, and I am very sad that it is finished. I have never read an Orthodox book that was so inspirational and motivating. I couldn't put it down. I have already purchased an additional copy to give as a gift. I can't recommend this book enough.

10 people found this helpful

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Donner C. S. Tan

A passionate expos'e of the sacramental life

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2009

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Alexander Schmemann's book is imbued with great passions for a true understanding of the sacraments - as means of grace and pointers to the transformed (and transforming) Christian life in the light of Christ's self-offering to the world. Schmemann poignantly exposes the secular subterfuge of a sacred-profane, religious-secular dichotomy that is inimical to the nerve centre of the Christian view of life as one that belongs wholly to God. What the sacraments do is neither to offer a kind of solace from the 'real world' nor a self-help scheme that dishes out remedies for life's problems. Rather, they are vivid and concrete expressions of the whole life that has now been redeemed by Christ and given back to us for communion. Whereas, the fall has alienated us from God and life and renders food, nature, work, family and life outside the dominion of God, Christ by virtue of his life, death and resurrection has begun to restore all things in God till he be all in all.

Expositing the sacrament of Time and the various ordinances/mysteries (Eucharist, Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, Matrimony, Ordination, Unction) in the Orthodox tradition, Schmemann graces us with a passionate guide on how these are not to be co-opted by the world as the innocuous religious rites of hatch, match and despatch but the very windows through which we see the world in the process of being recapitulated by God. Hence, they are intimately connected with the mission and calling of the church to be the witnesses of Christ, who has offered himself as the sacrifice for the life of the world. For example, the Eucharist is the restoration of food as not just something for the stomach but as a means of communion with God. It satisfies our real hunger for God. Sunday is not just a day-off to do religious things, quite independent of the workaday week but the first day of the new creation! It invites us to enter into the Time (kairos) of God's new kingdom inaugurated on the Resurrection morning. While the secularist bemoans that 'there's nothing new under the sun'(Eccl 1), the Sunday liturgy points to the day when 'God will make all things new' (Rev 21)!

Though written from an Orthodox perspective, it will find ready resonance from Christians across the board, especially those from a liturgical background and are attuned to how the sacraments work and what they are meant to be - as the intersections of heaven and earth as well as the physical signs of a larger objective spiritual reality.

However, a caveat for those looking for a simpler introduction to Orthodox sacramental theology, this may not be the book for you. While articulate and clear a writer Schmemann certainly is, he does not make for straightforward reading, as it assumes a certain level of familarity with liturgical (even Orthodox) language and he writes with a quasi-poetic style. I would recommend instead the introductory books by Timothy Ware and Daniel Clendenin.

12 people found this helpful

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rsf3612

A Masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2019

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A classic work of the 20th century. Would recommend to Christians of all 'stripes', but certainly, of course, for Orthodox Christians.

2 people found this helpful

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Farfar

Incredible book - profoundly influential on perspectives

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2010

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This book is so deep and far-reaching in terms of illustrating a Christian worldview which is distinctively Orthodox that I don't know where to begin. It is as fundamental a shift as atomic theory was in physics. For the Life of the World challenges some classic dichotomies between "now" and "later", earth and heaven, secular and sacred. It's all the same *stuff*, we don't have to wait until later to experience the Kingdom - it's present NOW, in the sacraments. We don't have to view sacraments in opposition to the world, they are the completion of it, the satiation of a hunger for GOOD things.

This book is comforting, challenging, and stimulating... and has refined my perspective on life, the world, worship, and the sacraments. A blessing to read that I plan to gift to close friends.

17 people found this helpful

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Conor B. Dugan

Buy this Book -- One of the best I've ever read

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2011

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Simply put, this is one of the greatest books of any genre I have ever read.

I am not sure how even to begin describing this incredible book. Ultimately it is about living all of life liturgically and understanding the world as sacrament. We come to know the world through the lived liturgy of the Church.

In this book, Schmemann rejects the false dichotomies between secular and religious, nature and grace, supernatural and natural. He orients the reader to living life liturgically.

I feel as if I am just jumping around trying to find a good way to describe this book and I realize that I cannot do it justice. Perhaps a few quotations will help to explain the profound nature of this book:

"If the Church is truly the 'newness of life' -- the world and nature as restored in Christ -- it is not, or rather ought not be, a purely religious institution in which to be 'pious,' to be a member in 'good standing,' means leaving one's own personality at the entrance -- in the 'check room' -- and replacing it with a worn-out, impersonal, neutral 'good Christian' type personality. Piety in fact may be a very dangerous thing, a real opposition to the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Life -- of joy, movement and creativity -- and not of the 'good conscience' which looks at everything with suspicion, fear and moral indignation."

"[T]he tragedy of a certain theology (and piety) was that in its search for precise definitions, it artificially isolated the sacraments from the liturgy in which they were performed."

"The Church is the entrance into the risen life of Christ; it is communion in life eternal, 'joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.'"

"A marriage which does not constantly crucify its own selfishness and self-sufficiency, which does not 'die to itself' that it may point beyond itself, is not a Christian marriage. The real sin of marriage today is not adultery or lack of 'adjustment' or 'mental cruelty.' It is the idolization of the family itself, the refusal to understand marriage as directed toward the Kingdom of God."

"Feast means joy. Yet, if there is something that we -- the serious, adult and frustrated Christians of the twentieth century -- look at with suspicion, it is certainly joy."

"[T]he term 'sacramental means that for the world to be means of worship and means of grace is not accidental, but the revelation of its meaning, the restoration of its essence, the fulfillment of its destiny. It is the 'natural sacramentality' of the world that find its expression in worship . . . Being the epiphany of God, worship is thus the epiphany of the world; being communion with God, it is the only true communion with the world; being knowledge of God, it is the ultimate fulfillment of all human knowledge."

"Thus the very notion of worship is based on an intuition and experience of the world as an 'epiphany' of God, thus the world -- in worship -- is revealed in its true nature and vocation as 'sacrament.'"

I hope those quotations give a flavor of this book. It really is incredible. I don't know if there was one page on which I did not underline or star a passage. Do yourself a favor, buy and savor this book.

12 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Imogen

Fabulous book for those interested in getting to grips with Orthodox Christian theology.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2013

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A timeless book, by a demanding but really readable author - this book enables us to develop our understanding of Orthodox Christian theology in an era when 'pick and mix' religion is becoming the norm. A must for lay people and clergy alike.

One person found this helpful

David Robert Tomlinson

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2014

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A brilliant book - the book on sacramental theology.

Ian Wallace

On baptism/chrismation he is magnificent. My former bishop (RC) ...

Reviewed in Canada on September 27, 2015

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On baptism/chrismation he is magnificent. My former bishop (RC) would have agreed 99%. His writing on The Kingdom opened my eyes and ears to what I sing at Divine Liturgy - I am an honorary cantor in our local Ukr. Catholic church. I am eagerly awaiting my copy of The Eucharist by Fr. Schmemann.

Bruce Moir

Three Stars

Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2017

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a difficult read

Adrianus Mol

On liturgy

Reviewed in Canada on August 25, 2018

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Excellent

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