Critical Theories and Liturgical Studies

Convener: Gerald C. Liu, Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching at Princeton Theological School, United Methodist Elder of the Mississippi Annual Conference and Minister in Residence at the Church of the Village in Manhattan

Members in Attendance: Martin Connell, Layla Karst, Gerald C. Liu, Jason Smith, Stephanie Budwey, Sarah Johnson, Kristine Suna-Koro, Tony Alonso, Jonghyun Kim

Visitors in Attendance: Kat Olson, Nick Peterson, J. Terry Todd

Description of Work: We discussed the following papers and held a joint session discussing Liturgy and Pain with the Liturgical Hermeneutics Seminar.

Papers and Presentations:

• Sarah Johnson, “Religion as Practice, Ethnography as Theology, and Dialogue between Sociology of Religion and Liturgical Studies.” • Jason Smith, “Sin and Liturgy in Political Theology.” • Kristine Suna-Koro, “Liturgy and Lament: Postcolonial Reflections from the

Midst of a Global Refugee Crisis.” • Stephanie Budwey, “Liturgies of livability or liturgical violence: What kind of space are we creating for non-binary individuals?” • Layla Karst, “Symbolizing Sin and Sanctity: A Holy, Sinful Church?” • Martin Connell, “Born in a Wreck: Baptism, Original Sin, and Godparenting in The Violent Bear It Away.” • Gerald Liu, “The Illusory Association of Piety to Patterns of Worship.”

Other Work and Plans for the Future: For our next session, we plan to discuss 10–12 page papers responding to the question, ‘What is liturgy?’