scholarly journals Minding Children in the Study of Liturgy

Author(s):  
Faith Glavey Pawl

Recent interest in philosophy of religion on religious practice more generally, and liturgical rituals in particular, opens up new avenues for thinking about the religious lives of young children. In this article I consider what it means to say that young children are part of a worshipping assembly, and in what ways they might count as exemplary religious practitioners. There is very little discussion of the religious experiences and practices of children in the philosophy of religion, and I argue that this lacuna should be addressed. Taking cues from Nicholas Wolterstorff and Terence Cuneo's work on the philosophy of liturgy, I make the case that young children can and do participate fully in the liturgical rituals of Christian communities. I draw on the work of religious educators Sofia Cavaletti and Jerome Berryman to illustrate what the religious world of the child looks like, and to make the case that there are respects in which children are at an advantage over adults in participating in the liturgical life of the church.

Horizons ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Phan

AbstractRecent social studies have show that there are, especially among young American Catholics, different conceptions of what constitutes a Catholic. Factors contributing to this new understanding of Catholic identity include religious pluralism and the divergent conceptualizations of catholicity and Catholicism in contemporary theology. As a consequence, different criteria are used to define what it means to be a Catholic. These variations pose serious challenges to religious educators whose task is to shape the religious identity of the students.The study begins with a survey of the history of the concept of catholicity as well as of the criteria for Catholic identity. In view of the variations in the understanding of catholicity, the work discerns four challenges for religious education with its task of fostering Catholic identity: how to maintain a fruitful balance between Vatican II's recognition of the ecclesial nature of non-Catholic Christian communities and its claim that the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of the means of salvation; between Vatican II's call for dialogue with non-Christian religions and its insistence on the distinctiveness of Catholic beliefs and practices; between the legitimate concerns of “communal Catholics” and the necessity for all Catholics to participate fully in the Catholic symbol and ethical system; and between the spiritual and institutional, the invisible and visible elements of the church. The article concludes by suggesting an indirect method to develop and strengthen Catholic identity by means of the “deep structures” of the Catholic faith, with particular focus on Christian doctrines.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
J. Aaron Simmons

Traditional philosophy of religion has tended to focus on the doxastic dimension of religious life, which although a vitally important area of research, has often come at the cost of philosophical engagements with religious practice. Focusing particularly on Christian traditions, this essay offers a sustained reflection on one particular model of embodied Christian practice as presented in the work of Søren Kierkegaard. After a discussion of different notions of practice and perfection, the paper turns to Kierkegaard’s conception of the two churches: the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. Then, in light of Kierkegaard’s defense of the latter and critique of the former, it is shown that Kierkegaard’s specific account gets appropriated and expanded in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s account of “costly grace” and “religionless Christianity,” and Simone Weil’s conception of “afflicted love.” Ultimately, it is suggested that these three thinkers jointly present a notion of “militant liturgies” that offers critical and constructive resources for contemporary philosophy of religion.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ignatius Payyappilly

This paper is an attempt to explore and analyse the practice of the institution of slavery observed by the Syrian Christian communities in Kerala. There are eighteenth and nineteenth century palm leaf (manuscript) records in the Syrian Christian churches in Kerala establishing the same which needs to be understood in its secular and spiritual senses since these records are evidence of both the secular practice of slavery as a social custom and a religious practice of adima (slave) offering as a spiritual activity. So also, this paper is an attempt to explore and analyse the origin of adimappanam or adimakasu found in the Church records. Keywords: Syrian Christians; Slavery; Palm leave records; Adima; Adimappanam; Slave offering


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
Marianne Moyaert

Abstract Ricoeur’s philosophy of religion as well as his suggestion that we may consider interreligious dialogue as a specific form of linguistic hospitality has inspired many to think through the challenges of interfaith learning in a post-secular age. I am one of those scholars who have found Ricoeur a particularly helpful conversation partner as I sought to create a nonviolent and transformative space of encounter in my interreligious classroom. In this article, I elaborate on how my lived experiences as an interreligious educator have made me wonder if Ricoeur’s philosophy of religion and his plea for interreligious hospitality are not actually limiting the critical potential of interreligious education. Ricoeur’s interreligious hermeneutics strongly resonates with a modern (Protestant) understanding of religion and its implicit, normative distinction between good (mature) and bad (immature) religiosity, which to this day belongs to the sociopolitical imagination of the majority in most Western European countries (this is certainly true for the Netherlands). It has been my pedagogical experience that this distinction between good and bad religion contributes to and reinforces testimonial and hermeneutical injustice in my classroom, which results in the marginalization of some of my students, especially those whose religious practice does not fit the understanding of what religion ought to be.


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4 Zeszyt specjalny) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Urszula Mazurczak

The letter of the Holy Father John Paul II written in Rome in 1987, in the tenth year of His pontificate, on December 4th, on the day of memorial of Saint John Damascene, the doctor of the Church, on the Twelfth Centenary of finishing the controversy over the icon, is of great importance for the Pope’s program of ecumenism. The Holy Father indicated various directions of the dialogue, however, the one of the utmost importance concerned the agreement with the Orthodox Church, which was confirmed in the letters and in His other documents quoted in this paper. The image used to be essential for religious practice, for illustrating the word of prayer and of the song, in order to preserve the tradition of the Church. The strict prohibition introduced by the iconoclasm depreciated not only the artistic tradition of paintings but also the basic dogmas of Christ’s Incarnation and the one which introduced Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (the God-bearer). The ban constituted a threat not only for the icons but also for the Christian faith. In His Letter, the Pope underlined the important role of the Second Council of Nicaea which reintroduced icons and maintained and deepened the meaning of the cult in the faith of believers. Furthermore, the Holy Father indicated the connection with the Second Vatican Council in understanding the function and form of images in contemporary Church. Contemporary trends are overwhelmed by the impotence of the spiritual expression of sacral art, which is a great concern for the Pope. The Letter is, therefore, a dramatic warning of the threats for religious art in contemporary time, expressed by the Holy Father with these words: ‘The rediscovery of the Christian icon will also help in raising the awareness of the urgency of reacting against the depersonalizing and at times degrading effects of the many images that condition our lives in advertisements and the media.’ (DS, 11).


Nasledje ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 191-207
Author(s):  
Marko Katić

Among but few icons brought back home by hajjis from their pilgrimage to Jerusalem (hence the name jerusalems) preserved in Belgrade, the one that stands out for its peculiarity and relatively early origin is the 1819 icon kept in Ružica Church in Kalemegdan. The most important element of the icon is the depiction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This paper presents and analyses numerous peculiarities of this depiction, before all by comparing its iconography and style with the usual kind of the Jerusalem pilgrimage icons of the same age. Th icon painter's method is additionally analysed through the theoretical prism of palimpsest and gloss, recently developed in art-historical studies. It has been concluded that the depiction is basically similar to that on other icons dating from after the 1808 fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but bearing an array of specificities that could be ascribed to the reinterpretation of architectural elements of the Jerusalem Church which the icon painter depicts to underline its holiness. The analysis points to a local Palestinian master as the author of the icon.


2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Dariusz Kasprzak

Neither the Apostles nor any Christian minister is admitted to use the priest’s title in the text of the New Testament. Nevertheless, in the New Testament we can perceive the development of the doctrine of the priest ministry in the early Church. Albert Vanhoye maintains that the lack of the term “priest” in the New Testament suggests the way of understanding of the Christian ministry, different from this in the Old Testament. It can’t be considered as a continuation of Jewish priesthood, which was concentrated mainly on ritual action and ceremonies. In the first century the Church developed the Christology of priesthood (Hbr) and ecclesiology of priesthood (1 P). Early Christians focused first on the redemptive event of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. Only then the religious communities adopted the priest’s title for their ministry.In the early years of the Church, all the ministries were regarded as a charismatic service among the Christian communities. In their services the early Christians followed Jesus Christ sent by God to serve. The Holy Spirit sent by God in the name of Jesus bestowed the spiritual gifts upon the Church (1 Kor 12–13). Consequently the disciples of Jesus and their successors could continue his mission. The Twelve Apostles’ ministry was the very first and most important Christian ministry. It was closely connected to the service of Jesus Christ himself. The Apostles were sent by the authority of Jesus Christ to continue his mission upon earth and they preached the Good News of the risen Christ. The Apostolicity was the fundamental base for every Church ministry established in different Christian communities. Successive ministries were established in order to transmit the teaching of Jesus Christ and to lead the community. For the early Christians the priesthood was not an individual privilege. It had rather the community character.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Anderwald

One of the important tasks of the Church in the temporal order are concern for the work of creation and for man himself, and sometimes even the defense against threats of technical progress, conducted from any ethical and moral references. The concern for the common home is not only a domain of the Catholic Church. Similarly, other churches and Christian communities as well as other world religions reflect on the issues relating to the degradation of human and natural environment. Thus, the aim of these reflections is an attempt to recognize ecumenical impulses of the Pope in the context of integral ecology that takes into account the interlinkages between different dimensions of reality. Therefore, during the considerations will be presented firstly the papal diagnosis of the social and ecological crisis (1), then the proposals of actions aiming at the development of integral ecology (2) as well as an invitation to a dialogue resulting from the care for the common home (3). The main sources of the analysis undertaken are the two papal documents, namely the encyclical Laudato si’ (LS) and the post-synodal apostolic exhoration Querida Amazonia (QA).


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-115
Author(s):  
Aloysius Iryanto ◽  
Don Bosco Karnan Ardijanto

The Sacrament of Baptism and of Confirmation urge the faithful to participate in the mission of the Church. One of various realizations of the Church’s mission is running the Catholic Schools.  In other words, all members of a Catholic school: teachers, employees, students, foundations or parents, are called and sent to be involved in the mission of the Church. One of the fruits of carrying out Church missionary duties in Catholic schools is baptism. In 2012-2016 the number of baptisms in the Catholic High Schools in the city of Madiun was 15 people. Starting from the above, several questions can be asked as the starting point of this research: 1) What is the Church’s mission? 2) What is the Church’s mission according to the Catholoc religious educators? 3) How do the Catholic religious educators implement the Church’s mission in the Catholic Senior High Schools in Madiun city? This study aims: describing the understanding of the Church’s mission, to analyze the understanding of Religious Educators on the Church’s mission and to analyze how the religious educators to realize the Church’s mission in the Catholic Senior High Schools in the Madiun city. To achieve these objectives, researcher used qualitative research methods with interview techniques. The respondents of this study were religious educators in four Catholic Senior High Schools in Madiun. The results of the study show that: 1) The Religious Educators know the understanding of the Church’s mission. 2) All faithful are responsible to participate in the Church’s mission. 3) The Religious Educators had to be responsible and to involve in the Church’s mission in Catholic Senior High Schools. 4) The Religious Educators had already done and implemented the Church’s mission in their schools. In fact, there were some difficulties come from extern or intern of the schools.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document