Dealing with a matter of great topical interest in the field of liturgical studies, this book is a compilation of the proceedings of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the College Theology Society at Rockhurst University (Kansas City, MO). In addition to the introduction, the book consists of thirteen essays divided into three parts: (1) Liturgy and Power, Human and Divine; (2) Liturgy and the World: Weakness and Power; (3) Liturgy and Power in Lived Religion. The first article, by Bruce Morrill, starts the volume powerfully. To analyze the topic of power and liturgy, he convincingly pleads for an inductive method, which attends to particular experiences of the liturgy. Using a personal pastoral experience with an Ash Wednesday service, Morrill gives a run-through of diverse power issues that can play out in, and through, a liturgical celebration. His reflections are a fine example of pastoral-liturgical theology, concluding with a fervent wish to use the paradoxical divine-human power of the paschal mystery as the hermeneutical key to unlock the different relations between liturgy and power. Next follows an article on anamnesis in the Roman Catholic mass by Annie Selak, a critical analysis of Laudato Si’ by Paul Schutz, and a challenging reflection from Marcus Meschner on (the failure of) power sharing in the liturgy.
The second part also starts with a personal liturgical experience, which leads Susan Ross to an interesting theological and philosophical reflection on the relationship among liturgy, power, and justice. Next, Anne M. Clifford proposes and constructs a communal para-liturgical day of prayer, using liturgical lament to evoke ecological virtues. Although she provides some interesting reflections on Thomas Aquinas’ cardinal virtues as ecological virtues, I am not convinced of the possibility of introducing a period of prayerful and optional faith sharing on these virtues in the framework of the liturgy. Whether this can indeed function as an example of “the power of lament” remains unclear. Further contributions in this second part are a short report on African American Catholic Liturgical Revivalism by Krista Stevens and some particular insights from fieldwork in the conflict area of Northern Uganda by Todd Whitmore. The last article deals with self-injury of woman (C. L. Cameron) and prenatal loss (S. Bigelow Reynolds), which, according to respondent Susan Ross, clearly shows the church's inability to respond and even acknowledge a woman's pain on the one hand and the immense possibilities for a woman's sacramental agency and female power on the other hand.
The focus on these concrete “loci,” in which the connection between power and liturgy reveals itself, is continued in the third and last part. Anne McGowan reflects on liturgical blessings of parents and children, delving into the rich but too often forgotten source of the Benedictionale, while the last article, by Derek C. Hatch and Katherine G. Schmidt, reflects on the power of virtual space, an interesting new field that liturgical studies is only just discovering. This third part starts with a longer contribution by Ricky Manalo, challenging the liturgy as the source and summit. Manalo argues that liturgical studies must take into consideration the interrelation between the Sunday Eucharist and how the religious life of Catholics is expressed in unofficial worship practices, which, according to him, is the real source and summit. Manalo describes this as one movement of worship, which he then confronts with the insights of sociologists of religion. There seem to be many parallels (and critical remarks to be made) between this idea and the orthodox understanding of liturgy, sacramentality, and Christian life understood as one act of worship, but these remain outside the scope of this review. Michael Rubbelke continues Manalo's thinking by using Rahner to overcome the apparent disconnect between liturgy and everyday Christian life and referring to the Word as source and summit. Both authors, however, seem to have a rather limited definition of liturgy, which enables them to make some of their sharp distinctions.
As a whole, this book will be easy to use to introduce students to a wide range of topics having to do with the relationship between liturgy and power. It offers fundamental liturgical theological reflection, insights from ritual studies and sociology, and clear and valuable liturgical practical examples of the relationship between power and liturgy. On some points, it could have been more challenging: there is no elaborate, fundamental, liturgical theological reflection on ministry and liturgy, clericalism, and liturgical diversity, to name a few topics. I do applaud the CTS, however, for dedicating its conference to this highly important topic of the liturgical life of the churches.
