released 5/10/2019

You might think that a book about liturgical theology would have little to say about the Church’s mission in the world. To the contrary, says theologian David Fagerberg: “The Church is the world in the course of transfiguration.” And thus: “The liturgical cult does not exist for itself, it exists for the sake of the world, for the sake of understanding and transforming the world. . . . There is bidirectional traffic in every liturgy. Within the sacred sphere we glimpse under sacramental veil the homage that matter can pay to God — water, oil, bread, hand laying, icon, incense, brick and glass, assembled bodies. Having seen this, we treat all material objects with new reverence.” On this Friday Feature, David Fagerberg talks with Ken Myers about how Alexander Schmemann — especially in his book For the Life of the World — illuminated such a view of liturgy, the Church, and the Kingdom of God.

22 minutes

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