Liturgy and Cultures

Liturgical Hermeneutics

Convener: Sonja Pilz (rabbisonjakerenpilz@gmail.com) is Rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom, Bozeman, Montana; Ron Anderson (Ron.Anderson@garrett. edu) served as convener pro tem.

Members in Attendance: Ron Anderson, Joseph Donnelly, Ed Foley, Gordon Lathrop, Jennifer Lord, Hwarang Moon, Melinda Quivik, Don Saliers, Tom Schattauer, Allie Utley, Andrew Wymer.

Visitors in Attendance: Dominik Ackerman, Ken Amani, Chad Fothergill, Jonghyun Kim, Teresa Stewart, Michelle Whitlock.

Description of Work: The Liturgical Hermeneutics seminar continued a conversation on liturgy and affect theory begun over the previous three years, with particular attention to Allie Utley’s dissertation exploring the bodily experience of worship and how our feelings control/effect our experiences of worship, followed by a discussion of emotional valence in the Psalms, led by Don Saliers. We received and reflected on a report from Ed Foley regarding a project he has developed on preaching and the sciences. We discussed part of a forthcoming manuscript from Melinda Quivik, exploring the ways in which we might pursue more honest conversations about race and worship, particularly as they intersect in the context of seminary worship life. We concluded with a conversation led by Ron Anderson in which we explored some questions about the teaching of liturgy as a hermeneutic event.

Papers and Presentations:

• Allie Utley, Sensing Worship: An Auto Ethnography of Liturgy and Affect, concluding chapter on affect and good worship. • Don Saliers, “Emotional Valence in the Psalms: Reflecting on the Rhythms of

Lament and Doxology in Psalms 55,104, and 137.” • Ed Foley, “Preaching and the Sciences: How Engagement with Contemporary Science and Scientists Might Feed the Homiletic Imagination,” • Melinda Quivik, Worship at a Cross-Roads: Race, Responsibility, and Reason, concluding chapter. • Ron Anderson, “Teaching Liturgy as Hermeneutic Event: As Teachers of

Liturgy, We Are Interpreters of Liturgical Traditions Preparing Others to Be

Practitioners/Interpreters of Those Traditions.”