Introduction to Liturgical Theology

A good introduction to the development of Byzantine rite, though the text can be a bit dry at times. Schmemann emphasizes the eschatological and communal focus of early Christian worship as well as the central place of the Resurrection to Church piety.Schmemann does an excellent job of emphasizing the importance of the character of the devotion we express rather than the importance of outward forms. Ultimately this is more a book of the history of the liturgy and does not contain the same inspirational impact of "Life of the World", but certainly proves a valuable read.

All good, ty!

A must read for students of liturgy.

Great Book, Well Written!! Thank You for sending this in to me!!!

The title of the book is misleading, especially for those protestants who read and devoured *For the Life of the World* and are looking for an expansion upon that in *Liturgical Theology.* This book is *not* an explication of key concepts in Byzantine Liturgical Theology, even if its title somewhat suggests that. Rather, it is a history of the first six centuries, give or take, of the development of Liturgy in the Byzantine world.In some ways it is a response to, and evaluation of, Dom Gregory Dix's book on Liturgy. I don't think Schmemann is a liberal, but sometimes it's hard to avoid that charge when reading this book. He does view much of the liturgy, if not the very *continuing* authority of the church as a historical accident. It's not too much different from Protestantism, if only it has much cooler liturgy.There are some golden moments, though, and the book is still quite useful. One is given a very thorough and competent review of mid-20th century scholarship on liturgics. Given that Orthodoxy was still quite new to the scholarly world (its key thinkers having been enslaved under Islam for 7 centuries and many were still being slaughtered under London-D.C.-financed Soviet terror), this book represents an important historical moment for the church. He also has an interesting section on how the chant corresponded to the music of the angels, ala Dionysius the Areopagite.

In his book Introduction to Orthodox Liturgical Theology, Fr. Schmemann had critiqued the whole substance of Orthodox worship in a manner that appeared more Protestant than Orthodox. Relying on Western, non-Orthodox sources, he yet claimed to have escaped the "Western captivity" of Liturgics. He rejected the traditional Orthodox view that the history of worship was "divinely established and Providential," and looked upon it rather as the result of mere historical circumstances. Like Protestant scholars, he put changes that occurred at the beginning of the Constantinian era in a dubious light, regarding them not as new forms of the expression of the same piety but rather as a reformation of the interpretation of worship and a deviation from the early Christian liturgical spirit and forms. The true, "eschatological" nature of worship, he said, had been partially obscured by 'mysteriological piety" and "symbolical explanations," as well as by the "ascetic individualism" arising largely from monasticism. Accordingly, the theological idea of the cycle of services had been "obscured and eclipsed by secondary strata or Ordo," and it remained for modern theologians to find it again.Father Seraphim Rose was very unimpressed with Fr. Schmemann, and said his books were all boring and dry, and did not do a good job talking about the Orthodox faith. Father Michael Pomazansky was also very critical of Schmemann and his books. Fr. Michael felt called upon to write an article on Fr. Schmemann's book. (2a) Originally printed in Russian, the article was translated by Fr. Seraphim and printed in The Orthodox Word. Fathers Seraphim and Herman thought it was excellently written: evenhanded, with clear expositions of Orthodox teaching to contrast with Fr. Schmemann's distortions. Fr. Michael wrote: "He pays tribute to the method that reigns completely in contemporary science: leaving aside the idea of an overshadowing of Divine grace, the concept of sanctity of those who established the liturgical order, he limits himself to a naked chain of causes and effects. Thus does positivism intrude nowadays into Christian science, into the sphere of the church's history in all its branches. But if the positivist method is acknowledged as a scientific working principle in science, in the natural sciences, one can by no means apply it to living religion, nor to every sphere of the life of Christianity and the Church, insofar as we remain believers..."

The book was written in the 1980s, this is a reprint. Schmemann gives a very good, and very thorough introduction to Liturgical Theology, with clear definitions, and careful exploration of background issues. He draws on sources from both the East and the West, citing eg. Florovsky and Dom O. Rousseau in the same section. Very valuable for Christians of the West, as well as the East.

Thank you so much

I do not WANT to write a review, thank you