Liturgical Theology

Convener: Melanie Ross, Associate Professor of Liturgical Studies, Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music

Members in Attendance: Fred Ball, Lorraine Brugh, Hans Christoffersen, Bruce Cinquegrani, Cory Dixon, Doris Donnelly, Peter Fink, Joris Geldhof, Brenda Grauer, Christopher Grundy, Ching-Yu Huang, Martin Jean, Nathan Jennings, Todd Johnson, Hyung Rak Kim, Sangwoo Kim, Melanie Ross, Rhoda Schuler, Thomas Scirghi, Frank Senn, Tom Trinidad, Mark Wedig, Andrew Wright

Visitors in Attendance: Nathan Myrick, Jonathan Ottaway, Daniel Schlorff, Laura Steiner, David Williams

Description of Work: Our seminar discussed two books: Spirituals and the Blues (James Cone) and Liturgy and Secularism (Joris Geldhof). We also discussed three papers by seminar members: “Sacramentum Tantum: Liturgical signification in the thought of Louis Marie Chauvet” (Bruce Cinquegrani), “This is the World I Want to Live in: Toward a Theology of Practical Sacramentality” (Christopher Grundy), and “Worship, Liturgy, and the Brain” (Tom Trinidad).

Other Work and Plans for the Future: Looking ahead to the 2021 meeting, we decided to continue our pattern of reading two books (one “classic”, one “contemporary”) as well as discussing group members’ works-in-progress. So far, two members (Tom Trinidad and Hyung Rak Kim) have expressed interest in offering papers in 2021.

Our classic author for 2021 will be Evelyn Underhill. The group decided that we will read the following parts of her writings:

• Worship (first published in 1937). We will be reading Part I of this book (chapters 1-9) • The Mystery of Sacrifice (published in 1938). This book—a collection of

Underhill’s retreat addresses—is out of print; however, copies are available online and in libraries.

Our contemporary author for 2021 will be seminar member Thomas Scirghi:

• Longing to See Your Face: Preaching in a Secular Age (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2017).

Finally, the group was eager to read and discuss Joris Geldhof’s forthcoming book, Liturgical Theology as a Research Program (coming out in April 2020); however, we worried that the price (currently listed as $84) was prohibitive. As a work-around, Joris has kindly agreed to send us his chapter on methodology as a PDF, and I will plan a generous chunk of time for discussion: less than we would spend on a full book, but more than we spend on a work-in-progress paper.