This is an extraordinary book – both stimulating and thought-provoking.
In his preface, Professor Wolterstorff notes that, whilst liturgy has long been the province of historians and theologians, there has been seemingly little interest in the subject on the part of philosophers. This book – which he freely acknowledges has been a difficult book to write – attempts to explore some of this philosophical terra incognita, seeking, in the author's words ‘to contribute to creating a new subfield within philosophy of religion, namely, philosophy of liturgy’ (p. viii).
As such, the book is wide-ranging. The author brings to bear the techniques of modern analytical philosophy, and especially ‘speech-act’ theory, on various aspects of the liturgy, in particular on ‘what is done in liturgical enactments’ – what he calls the ‘performative dimension’ of the liturgy. The work has four main parts: ‘Liturgy, Enactments and Scripts’ (including an attempt in the first chapter to define ‘What is liturgy?’ – always a challenging question!); ‘Liturgy and Scripture’; ‘God in the Liturgy’ (including a fascinating exploration from a philosopher's standpoint as to what it might mean to describe God's agency in the liturgy); and finally ‘Liturgy, Love and Justice’. With such a wide canvas, it would be difficult to expect either an absolute consistency of approach and quality, or a single unifying ‘thesis’, and indeed, the work has its highs and lows. To this reviewer's mind, it is strongest where it is most analytical, and a little less exciting where it is more descriptive and assertional, as in some of the later chapters. Similarly, the author – himself clearly a committed Christian – draws on a wide variety of materials taken from both his own Protestant tradition and from Catholic and Orthodox texts, with an especial relish for the ‘prolix, poetic and excessive…’ liturgy of the Orthodox Church.
The work presents a number of challenges, however. Again in the Preface, the author highlights that his main target audience is his fellow philosophers, and it is thus unsurprising that the terminology used throughout can be at best unfamiliar, at worst a real struggle for the ‘non-specialist’. Having noted that, however, this reader certainly found it worth the struggle to persevere. What saves this book for the more general reader is the copious use of everyday examples which clarify and illuminate the technical distinctions which the questions posed and the subsequent analysis demand. Nonetheless, it is not ‘bedtime reading’ – at least for those of us who are not professional philosophers.
At least part of the author's focus in his analysis of the ‘performative aspect’ of the liturgy is that liturgical enactments belong to the ‘genus’: scripted activity. He writes cogently and persuasively on what exactly this means – which goes far beyond the idea that the ‘script’ is merely the ‘texts’ or the ‘order’ of a liturgy. Nevertheless, he does rely heavily on individual liturgical texts as examples for his analysis, drawn – as noted – from a wide variety of Christian traditions, and this can be problematic. A very simple example occurs in chapter 3 (pp. 65-66) where the author uses two texts from the Penitential Rite at Mass as if they were concurrent, rather than alternatives to each other. In that particular instance, his ‘mis-reading’ does not imperil his conclusion, but a more serious mis-reading occurs later in the same chapter (pp. 76-77) – where a little more attention to the historical development of the Communion Rite would have demonstrated the exact opposite of his interpretation of the ‘Kiss of Peace’.
Two other jarring notes stand out – at least to this reviewer. Frequently, ancient texts from the early Roman Rite, and thus texts with a long and venerable pedigree within the liturgy, are sourced as if ‘freshly minted’, or attributed to other Christian liturgical traditions (e.g. p. 210, n.2 – where a very familiar prayer often attributed to Alcuin of York († 804) is sourced to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2007). Similarly, it seems that all the texts analysed are read and reflected upon in English, even when their original was in another language, and this can cause confusion (cf. the ‘optative’ discussion on p. 215). Again, whilst these are jarring, they rarely seem to wound the author's arguments fatally – though if a ‘new subfield’ is indeed to be born, they do represent a threat to future analysis. One interesting by-product of such criticisms, however, is the realisation (not discussed by the author, but perhaps implicitly understood) that – perhaps for the majority of congregations and for the major part of the time – liturgical texts are heard in this ‘disembodied’ way in our churches. They spring from nowhere, are used, and disappear again. Whilst liturgical scholars may be more finely attuned to the history and development of liturgical language and its meaning, Professor Wolterstorff's approach may be highlighting another area for future Christian formation – and even hints as much in his chapter on God's liturgical activity (p. 220).
One last niggle. The focus on ‘what is done’, on the performative dimension of the liturgy, is genuinely fascinating. What seems to be missing, however, is any sense of a ‘performative trajectory’ within a liturgy – that is, that the various elements together (rather than being analysed singly) have a direction and a purpose for both the individual worshipper and a Christian community. This is particularly obvious in the chapters on ‘Liturgy and Scripture’ – which have some truly interesting insights, but where what might be termed the ‘goal’ of proclamation or commemoration seems to have got lost. Perhaps, though, that is a question for another book.
A singularly attractive facet of the author's style is that – every now and then – he runs into a question he cannot answer, and honestly confesses the fact. If imitation, then, is the sincerest form of flattery, I would finish thus. Does the author succeed in the challenge he sets himself? I don't know. Is everything in this book correct? I doubt it. Is it a book worth reading? Absolutely.
