I recently had the opportunity to give a paper on the Eritrean Catholic Church at Faith, Art, and the Politics of Belonging in Africa, the combined meeting of SERSAS and SEAN held at UNC Chapel Hill. I began studying Eritrean Christianity in 2003 by praying with and learning from Eritrean Orthodox Christians in San Diego at the beginning of my doctoral studies in cultural anthropology which subsequently lead to my fieldwork in Eritrea in 2005. [MORE...]
Archive for category Eastern Liturgy
The Syro-Malabar Rite Catholics I met have a saying, adapted from Fr. Placid Podipara: they are “Indian in culture, Catholic in religion, and Syriac in worship.” Just this morning I discovered a new instance of the truth of this saying…
Liturgy of the body
Feb 10
With the popularity these days of a “theology of the body,” I am spurred to think of a “liturgy of the body.” With my body, I thee worship, Lord.
I venture the opinion that when we say “liturgical” the first things to reach our minds are texts, music, and Sunday morning pews. Thus when we want to do liturgy better, which is a laudable goal, we improve the texts, rewrite the music, and wax the [MORE...]
Thickening our definition
Jan 16
The liturgical cult that we can see is like the part of an iceberg visible to us: it is the visible part of something much greater. To what is it connected?
What is the difference between eschatological and just plain exotic liturgy?
Is eschatology about the future or the present?
Is liturgy an escape from the world or entrance into a new world?
Did the Eastern church lose eschatology at some point and turn toward historicization?
Is it true that the Eastern churches historically employed vernacular, unlike the Roman rite?
All this and more in Eschatology and the Byzantine Liturgy by David M. Petras, a preview from the Winter 2010 issue (theme: Eschatology) of [MORE...]