Liturgy

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Liturgy or liturgical science is the reflective handling of the liturgy . In science and teaching, it is an academic discipline that deals with the understanding and design of liturgies or services , texts, ceremonies and objects. This reflection on the celebrations of worship concerns the Catholic, the Orthodox and the Protestant liturgical orders. In a broader sense, one can also speak of a scientific reflection on the Jewish worship celebrations.

Georg Cassander (1513–1566) used the term liturgy for the first time to describe the scientific reflection of Christian worship. However, the term did not establish itself until the 18th century in the Catholic and Protestant areas. In the theological canon of subjects, liturgy / liturgical science is mostly a sub- discipline of practical theology , but in some places it emerged as a sub-area of ​​historical theology. Liturgy is also an essential subject in church music education .

Subject of the liturgy in addition to the completed liturgies also the liturgical books , as a Protestant, the agendas , the Catholic side, the Ordines as the Missal , the Benedictional , the Pontifical , the Ceremonial etc. The books of the Divine Office and the hymnal also fall within the remit of the liturgy.

Field of action

In the liturgical-scientific reflection on the field of action of worship, there is v. a. five research areas:

  1. Genera
  2. elements
  3. Times
  4. places
  5. Functions

Genera

In addition to the usual Sunday church services, which have traditionally become naturalized, there are special festive services during the year (e.g. at Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.). In addition, there are casual services on specific biographical occasions (see the four classic casuals such as burial , baptism , confirmation , marriage ). In addition, there are target group services that are either based on specific age phases (e.g. children's services or services in old people's homes) or on specific occasions (e.g. political events, church convention). Not to be forgotten are the television , radio and internet services, which have their own forms of participation.

elements

Classically, a distinction is made between Ordinarium and Proprium. Fixed, unchangeable and recurring elements belong to the ordinarium (e.g. Our Father , creed , blessing, words of institution, liturgical chants, responsories ). Proprium includes elements that change depending on the church season and occasion (e.g. sermon texts, readings, daily prayers, psalms, weekly songs).

The particularly essential elements include:

Times

The worship service is a "break" from everyday life. It is based on a specific understanding of time of the past, present and future, each of which is liturgically qualified: it is about repetitive memory, present encounter and future promise.

There are three festive times during the church season:

Alternatively, because of the somewhat difficult and long Trinity time, one can divide it into the following four sections: Easter time, Christmas time, Pentecostal time and the “late” time of the church year.

places

In the Catholic cult , a building intended for worship should be removed from the area of ​​profane use. Since Pope New Year's Eve I at the latest , the beginnings of a rite of church consecration can be proven as liturgical acts. Early on, the distribution of holy water and the placing of the relics of Christian martyrs in the altar became essential parts of the consecration of Christian places for worship.

In the Protestant understanding, there are no essentially holy spaces that allow worship. It is rather the other way around: the spiritual-liturgical event constitutes the worship space. In principle, services can be celebrated in all rooms and also outdoors. However, church rooms that are recognizable as such in the public perception have a representative and reminder function for the community. Important principal pieces for the interior are the altar , pulpit and baptismal font .

Functions

There are very diverse functions of religious services: aesthetic, public, performing-expressive, traditional, interpretative, orienting, affirmative, transformative, integrative, etc. Some functions are in tension with one another: For example, there should be a reference to everyday life, but at the same time distance from everyday life getting produced. Or: A service should be aesthetic and therefore free of purpose, but on the other hand a service can also have political, educational and pastoral effects.

In addition, the service can be viewed as a ritual. Through the repeated routine actions, certain functions of reassurance, orientation and staging can be fulfilled. In addition, there is also a process of character interpretation in which certain codes (word language, body language, clothing, sound language, object language, spatial codes) are set in syntactic, semantic and pragmatic relationships with one another. Through the use of certain signs, these develop meaning for the participants. Last but not least, worship is a staging that can be analyzed analogously to a theater play, for example with regard to the following aspects: script, dramaturgy, roles, audience, transformative power.

Liturgy environment

In addition to liturgical and church-historical elements, knowledge of aesthetics , musicology , theater studies , folklore and communication studies flow into the teaching and research of liturgy . Even the church dance can be considered. Conversely, the findings of liturgy influence church music , church building and paramentics .

Literature (alphabetical)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kristian Fechtner: Liturgy . In: Fechtner / Hermelink / Kumlehn / Wagner-Rau (eds.): Practical Theology. A textbook . 2017, p. 128-151 .