WORSHIP Volume 74, Number 6 November 2000

Christopher J. Walsh
Minding Our Language:
Issues of Liturgical Language Arising in Revision, pp. 482 - 503.

Summary. Christopher Walsh, chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), addresses several aspects of ICEL's efforts to prepare "second generation" liturgical texts. He focuses initially on three specific areas of ICEL's revisions project – translation, composition, pastoral arrangement. He follows with a discussion of broader questions that relate to the entire revisions project.

Walsh speaks first to the area of translation. Here, he comments that compared to the first generation texts, the second generation translations attend more closely both to the substance and nuances of the Latin and to the demands of formal public speech. Walsh then identifies the principal issues that have emerged with respect to translation, which include fidelity to the Latin original, consistency in vocabulary, musicality, and inclusivity. The other areas of the revision project Walsh examines include original compositions and pastoral arrangement.

The last part of the discussion of the revisions project focuses on what Walsh refers to as more fundamental issues. One such issue is procedural/methodological in nature. With respect to this issue, Walsh defends the value of a committee, as opposed to a single author, in the drafting of liturgical texts. Another issue is cultural. Walsh discusses whether a liturgical English that is universally accessible can be achieved. A third issue Walsh identifies concerns the criticism levied against ICEL that it has not captured or preserved the literal sense intended by the original. Next, Walsh responds to certain theological criticisms of ICEL's work. Finally, Walsh comments on ecclesiological issues which have caused ICEL's work to be called into question or even declared illegitimate. Here, he concludes that we are experiencing a manifest breakdown of two fundamental ecclesiological principles, collegiality and subsidiarity.

C. Michael Hawn
The Wild Goose Sings:
Themes in the Worship and Music
of the Iona Community, pp. 504 - 521.

Summary. C. Michael Hawn explores the distinctive style of worship in the Iona Community, an ecumenical fellowship of men and women who seek new ways of living the Gospel in today's world. Hawn describes worship in the Iona Community as holding in balance the paradox of a local church that functions as a liturgical renewal movement within the Church of Scotland and the particular struggles and culture found there, and a vibrant voice in the ecumenical global church universal.

Before attending to the themes found in Iona liturgy and music, Hawn summarizes the history of the Iona Community. He explains that most worship material from the Iona Community comes from the Wild Goose Worship Group, a group of young adults who discuss and develop new strategies for public worship. Hawn also notes that the Iona Community is not another denomination. Rather, the style of worship services transcends denominational boundaries. It is highly participatory, encourages the use of symbolic action, addresses issues of social justice as well as personal spirituality, and maximizes congregational song.

Hawn then offers an analysis of the themes of the Community, including the group creative process developed by the Wild Goose Worship Group, the underlying sense of oral tradition, songs of the world church, and the biblical foundation and hermeneutic of the songs within the liturgy. Based on his analysis of these themes, Hawn suggests that we are left with more than collections of music, potential anthems, and a few liturgical innovations. We are left with an approach for liturgical renewal that is needed among mainline churches on both sides of the Atlantic. Hawn ends his essay with several summary points regarding this renewal movement.

Allison D. Werner
Finding Answers:
A Description and Interpretation of the Bavarian
Evangelisches Gesangbuch 1994, pp. 522 - 546.

Summary. In 1993, when the Bavarian Lutheran Church was faced with the crucial issue of participating in a new common hymnal for the whole Protestant Church of Germany, the Bavarian Church decided to pull out of the collaboration. Allison Werner explains that during a careful process of reflection and refining, Bavaria designed a unique model for a new hymnal based on spiritual principles and a communication theory.

In order to help readers understand the significance of this new model, Werner places the hymnal in its historical context and discusses the circumstances which led the Bavarian Church on its solo journey. What Bavaria deemed necessary was a new hymnal that reflected a positive future for the church with deep roots in its confessional Lutheran heritage. According to Werner, the common hymnal of the Protestant Church of Germany could not meet this need. The Bavarian Church Council also realized that a new worship book could be the church's chance to become more visible in a positive way.

Werner proceeds to outline the strategy that was developed for the Bavarian Church's new worship book, Evangelisches Gesangbuch 1994 ("EG"), and the publicity campaign that introduced the book. She also details various features that are unique to the Bavarian worship book, including the artwork, the hymnal, the services section, and the texts. Werner concludes by offering a critical, theological and practical evaluation of the EG.

Roland E. Murphy
Forum:
A Note on the Biblical Character of the Lectionary, pp. 547 - 550.

Summary. Roland Murphy responds to Fritz West's article, "Scripture, Bible, and Lectionary: A Quest for Common Ground," Worship 74 (2000) 290-307. Murphy first notes that the two principal hermeneutical stances West worked out concerning various lectionaries, provide a possible analysis of the differing roles of the Bible within the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the lectionary. Murphy then asks whether West's approach is compelling or whether it is simply one construal of a framework within which the lectionaries can be viewed.

In Murphy's opinion, although the title of West's article indicates an ecumenical intent, the end result is hardly auspicious for ecumenism, especially if as West avers, "lectionary texts are not biblical texts." Murphy also points to West's comments about the discomfort of biblical scholars with the format of the lectionary, a claim which Murphy says no study can affirm or deny.

Murphy then offers several considerations in favor of the lectionary. He adds that his commentary is without the framework or configuration provided by West, which, Murphy believes, needlessly negates that the truly biblical character of the Catholic lectionary. The last of Murphy's considerations addresses the ecumenical significance of common Bible reading, wherein he emphasizes that Vatican II provided an impetus for Christians to appreciate the Bible as a common treasure, not a bone of contention.

Nathan D. Mitchell
The Amen Corner, pp. 550 - 558.

Summary. Nathan Mitchell considers one of the frequent complaints made about the reformed Roman Catholic liturgy, that is, it lacks both beauty and mystery. He first asks whether it is possible to reconcile ethics and aesthetics and find a goodness that embraces both moral behavior and beauty. Mitchell's consideration of this question leads him to suggest that there is something about beauty that seeks to replicate itself. Beauty wants to pour forth its being, to extend itself, to prolong the experience, to deepen the desire. Ultimately, beauty stirs up in us the hunger for nothing less than the bountiful vision of God.

The desire to replicate, which beauty bestows upon its beholders, gives a clue about what goes on in liturgy, especially when we try to put ethics and aesthetics together. In liturgy, Mitchell writes, it's the doing (ethical action) that is beautiful, not necessarily the "product." In other words, liturgy's beauty is ultimately found in outcomes, not in objects. Mitchell cautions that this is not to say that liturgical gestures and objects are negligible – for worship is the repeated ritual of placing what means most into the care of human practices. The outcome, he says, is daunting but beautiful.

Mitchell sees liturgy as inextricably linked to desire. In fact, liturgy might be defined as the ritual means by which we educate desire. Liturgy understands that our deepest human desire is not merely to replicate but to create afresh, to beget and begin anew. According to Mitchell, when we gather for worship, we deliberately place ourselves in beauty's path, fully aware that we are exposing ourselves to uncontrollable outcomes, not objects. Worship is desire in a state of supreme attention.

Mitchell concludes with his argument that what makes liturgy beautiful is to be sought, simultaneously, in ethics and art. Here, he emphasizes that liturgy is God's work for us, not our work for God. Liturgy is something beautiful God does for us and among us. Public worship is God's work. Our work is to open our hands and hearts to the vulnerable and the needy.

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