ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Summary of Articles November 1999</title> </head> <body><h2>WORSHIP Volume 73, Number 6 November 1999</h2> <p><b>Michael D. Whalen<br> In the Company of Women?<br> The Politics of Memory in the<br> Liturgical Commemoration of Saints ýÿ Male and Female, pp. 482 - 504.</b></p> <p><i>Summary</i>. Michael D. Whalen says liturgy is ideological because it encodes in its texts and contexts clues as to the way the world has been, is, can be and/or will be structured. Furthermore, the liturgy can also be imbued with <i>distorted</i> ideology, in that there may be times when the liturgy serves to disclose a world which may be distorted. With this fundamental presupposition in mind, Whalen addresses Christian liturgical anamnesis and the commemoration of women saints in three mainline liturgical churches: the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran churches.</p> <p>Specifically, the author examines the current sanctoral cycle of these churches to observe <i>how many</i> women are liturgically commemorated, <i>who</i> these women are, <i>what</i> is remembered about them, and <i>how</i> they are remembered. Based on his analysis, Whalen observes that relative to the number of commemorations in honor of men, the names and narratives of women are few. He also notes that it is difficult to know whether even these few names and narratives are in fact remembered and celebrated. Moreover, the modesty of the texts raises questions about the content of what is actually commemorated about these women. Finally, the images through which these women are commemorated are sometimes problematic. </p> <p>Whalen's findings lead him to explore the components of an appropriate and appropriable dynamic of liturgical commemoration especially as this concerns women in particular and the church in general. In conclusion, Whalen urges that communities need to name more women and tell their stories in such a way that they are not simply illustrations of patriarchal power and influence. He adds that it is ultimately the truthfulness of Christian narrative and memory which is at risk here. </p> <p><b>Susan K. Roll<br> Christmas Then and Now:<br> Reflections on Its Origins and<br> Contemporary Pastoral Problems, pp. 505 - 521.</b> </p> <p><i>Summary</i>. Susan K. Roll presents a review of the extant evidence from the early church which gives us clues as to the origin of Christmas. What this evidence does not tell us, however, is unequivocably how, when or why it began. As Roll explains, despite the sketchy nature of the documentation preserved through the centuries, a number of liturgical historians have attempted to sort through the implications of the extant literature, attempting to fill in the gaps, and to prove causality with greater or lesser likelihood. In this regard, Roll comments on the two schools of thought concerning the origins of Christmas, that is, the Calculation hypothesis and the History of Religions hypothesis.</p> <p>Roll then asks what, if anything, the concern about pinpointing the origins of Christmas means for the contemporary church. She identifies three issues in the celebration of Christmas in the Western, Northern hemisphere, which merit consideration. First, Roll notes the time disjunction among Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. She suggests that our festal practice is impacted by the reality that people today operate primarily on anticipatory time and hence, have little patience for extending the season after the climax of it is experienced. Second, Roll addresses the festal disjunction between Easter and Christmas, noting that in the popular mind Easter still often remains the "second" feast of the liturgical year. Finally, she comments on what she describes as the well-worn conventional outrage over the commercialization of Christmas.</p> <p>Roll concludes that whatever the lingering obscurity of its origins, or the way in which at least some ancient church communities had to be persuaded to celebrate a newly-introduced feast, Christmas survived. It perdured, Roll says, because of its deep roots in human festal practice. For the contemporary church, the feast appeals to those who contemplate the mystery of incarnation and to those for whom sentimentality, emotions and family togetherness is the closest they ever come to spirituality. Roll adds that if it is not of God, it will not last. If it is of God, there is nothing we can do to stop it.</p> <p><b>Robert F. Taft<br> Comparative Liturgy Fifty Years after Anton Baumstark<br> (d. 1948): A Reply to Recent Critics, pp. 521 - 540.</b></p> <p><i>Summary</i>. In Robert Taft's opinion, the method of comparative liturgy which Anton Baumstark formulated and popularized remains not only useful but indispensable for the history of liturgy. The aim of comparative liturgy is to reconstitute the past and attempt to explain the already determined facts. Taft comments that unless the historical sources are explained, editing and studying them does not advance our knowledge of history one whit. He adds that knowledge is not the accumulation of data but the perception of relationships in the data. Taft believes Baumstark's "laws" of comparative liturgy can facilitate the process of comparative analysis and sifting of the available extant sources. </p> <p>Taft delineates for the reader ten methodological axioms scattered throughout Baumstark's writings by grouping them into two categories: 1) general principles concerning the evolution of liturgy and liturgical "rites" in the sense of liturgical families or traditions; and 2) particular laws regarding the evolution of a) liturgical texts and/or b) the evolution of liturgical structures. After presenting these principles, Taft responds to the recent criticisms levied against the method as a whole or this or that "law" in particular. Specifically, he addresses the critiques of Martin Stringer and Peter Knowles. </p> <p>In the final analysis, Taft comments that what is important is what works. He quotes Dom Bernard Botte's statement in his "Foreword" to Baumstark's Comparative Liturgy, who affirmed that "A method is to be judged by its results." In Taft's view, none of the criticism advanced against Baumstark's method has shaken this affirmation.</p> <p><b>Gerard S. Sloyan<br> Some Notes on Becoming a Holy Communion, pp. 541 - 545.</b> </p> <p><i>Summary</i>. The assembly is the most important actor in the weekly act of praise and thanksgiving, petition and reconciliation. However, given today's social realities, Gerard Sloyan questions whether the ideal is achievable, that is, where people gather as a community and actively participate in worship. Sloyan suggests that the obstacles to an assembly's active participation in worship are formidable and require our attention. </p> <p>Sloyan considers several of these obstacles, including: fixed pews which are barriers to easy movement; paradoxically, excellence of performance by ministers in the sanctuary or choir; time constraints; self-imposed constraints by those who allow themselves only so much time for Sunday worship, or who will not acknowledge that public prayer has a social character; and those clergy who are convinced that the people should worship as a community but are not at all certain how to bring it about. </p> <p>In sum, Sloyan says that windows of opportunity for the people's participation must be multiplied. He cautions that such opportunities ought to be provided in the normal course rather than exhorted to. He adds that there will be the need at times for instruction and suggests that the proposals for new opportunities for participation be presented by lay persons who have the gift of invitation and regularly occupy a place in the assembly. </p> <p><b>Nathan Mitchell<br> The Amen Corner, pp. 545 - 555. </b></p> <p><i>Summary</i>. In the advent of the third millennium, Nathan Mitchell considers the reforms launched by two papal administrations during the millennium now ending, those of Gregory VII and Paul VI. Mitchell describes the Gregorian Reform as one which sought to revolutionize worship in the Latin West in a manner consistent with its ecclesiology, which viewed the whole church as "the pope's diocese," relegated bishops to the status of inferior assistants, translated fidelity as "feudal loyalty," and interpreted faith as obedience. </p> <p>Mitchell's reason for noting the features of the Gregorian Reform is twofold. One, as the second millennium ends, it is important for us to recognize that for nearly a thousand years Roman Catholics have belonged to a church whose institutions were heavily politicized. Two, the Gregorian Reform produced an episcopate gutted by papalism, and it encouraged a eucharistic theology obsessed by materialist views of Christ's presence. Mitchell observes that these ideologies and obsessions are still with us today.</p> <p>It is against what Mitchell characterizes as the intransigence of the Gregorian Reform that the magnitude of the aggiornamento launched by John XXIII and completed by Paul VI must be evaluated. In Mitchell's view, the Pauline Reform resulted in four changes so radical that their significance can be sensed only by the vigorous resistance they have provoked over the past two decades. These four changes are: 1) a liturgy reclaimed as both "work of the people" and "work of God"; 2) an ecclesiology that is populist and Christocentric rather than papal and curialist; 3) a renewed episcopate, seen once more as an authoritative college including (but not competing with) the pope; and 4) a renewed social order based on love rather than justice. Mitchell speaks to each of these changes and concludes that such a bold reforming vision has been a millennium in the making. Our task, he says, is just now coming into view. Mitchell urges readers to begin the hard work it will take to complete it.</p> <p><b>Music Review </b></p> <p><b><i>This Far By Faith: An African American Resource for Worship</i>. Produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church ýÿ Missouri Synod. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress. Pew Edition, $12.95, ISBN 0-8066-3335-2. Accompaniments to the Liturgies, $25.00, ISBN 0-8066-3895-8. Review by Clayton J. Schmit, pp. 556 - 561</b>. </p> <p><b>Book Reviews</b></p> <p><b><i>The Word Has Been Abroad. A Guide Through Balthasar's Aesthetics</i>. By Aidan Nichols. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press 1998. Paper, $23.95. ISBN 0-81320925-0. Review by John O'Donnell, S.J., pp. 561 - 563.</b></p> <p><b><i>Mystics, Visionaries &amp; Prophets</i>. Edited by Shawn Madigan, C.S.J. Minneapolis: Fortress 1998. Pages, viii + 502. Cloth, $39.00. ISBN 0-8006-3145-5. Review by Mary Ann Donovan, S.C., pp. 563 - 564.</b></p> <p><b><i>Women's Ways of Worship: Gender Analysis and Liturgical History</i>. By Teresa Berger. Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press/A Pueblo Book 1999. Pages, ix - 180. Paper, $21.95. ISBN 0-8146617-34. Review by Mary Collins, O.S.B., pp. 564 - 566.</b></p> <p><b><i>The Body Broken: The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century France.</i> By Christopher Elwood. New York: Oxford University Press 1999. Pages, 251. Paper, $49.95. ISBN 0-195121333. Review by Jeffrey Gros, F.S.C., pp. 566 - 567. </b></p> <p><b><i>When God is Silent.</i> By Barbara Brown Taylor. Boston: Cowley Publications 1998. Pages, 129. Paper, $9.95. ISBN 1-56101157-6. Review by Robert P. Waznak, S.S., pp. 567 - 569.</b></p> <p><b><i>The Matter and Manner of Praise: The Controversial Evolution of Hymnody in the Church of England 1760 - 1820.</i> Drew Studies in Liturgy Series, No. 5. By Thomas K. McCart. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1998. Pages, xvii + 153. Cloth, $49.50. ISBN 0-8108-3450-2. Review by Carol Doran, pp. 569 - 570.</b></p> <p><b><i>The Eucharist in the West: History and Theology</i>. Edward J. Kilmartin, S.J., ed. by Robert J. Daly, S.J. Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press/A Pueblo Book 1998. Pages, 422. Hardbound, $44.95. ISBN: 0-8146-6172-6. Review by Kenan B. Osborne, O.F.M., pp. 570 - 572. </b></p><p align="center"><a href="nov99.html">Worship November 1999</a></p> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-8378740-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script> </body> </html>