Modern History of Worship

The work of the Modern History of Worship Seminar focuses on analyzing the history, theology, and practice of worship from the 16th century to the present with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and methods and practical application for the church today.

Convener

Katharine E. Harmon
kharmon@marian.edu

Seminar Report 2022

 

Conveners

Katharine E. Harmon is Assistant Professor at Marian University in Indianapolis, IN, and Kent Burreson (co-Convener for 2022) is the Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Members in Attendance

Sarah Blair, Rychie Breidenstein, Kent Burreson, Mar- tin Connell, Sarah, Mount Elewononi, Timothy Gabrielli, Katharine E. Harmon, William Johnston, Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero, Todd Stepp, Shawn Strout.

Description of Work

The History of Modern Worship seminar welcomes papers exploring the liturgical history of the modern era (c. 1500-present) by consider- ing its theological, socio-cultural, and practical/pastoral aspects. We are commit- ted to dialogue and interface between denominations, which greatly enriches our seminar’s work. At this meeting, we received papers considering the historical development and theological implications of English Separatists and baptismal practices, a consideration of Martin Luther’s liturgical theology, and a consid- eration of the “myth” of Prayer Book Uniformity in the Anglican tradition. We also discussed the nature of Pope Benedict XVI’s unique eucharistic images, and the nature of faith and the liturgical imagination, as evidenced by the struggles of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Finally, two papers brought more contemporary issues to the table, including a discussion of the impact of Covid-19 on future worship practices and a sense of presence and space, and reflection on the pastoral impli- cations of introducing traditionally Christian themes to secular audiences. We also provided brief reports on our current work and research projects.

Papers and Presentations:

  • Martin Connell, University of Saint John/College of Benedict, began with his paper, “The Annulment of Baptisms: On the Origins of Baptist Theolo- gy,” which provided historical and theological insight into the self-baptized Englishman, John Smyth (c. 1564-1612).
  • William Johnston, University of Dayton, provided a paper titled, “’Totam existentialem ensitatem’: Exploring an Image of the Eucharistic Transfor- mation of the Faithful in Benedict XVI’s Sacrament of Charity,” where he offered a close examination of Benedict XVI’s use of “density” as a metaphor for eucharistic practice.
  • Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero, United Lutheran Seminary, drew from his forth- coming edited volume, Church after the Corona Pandemic: Consequences for Worship and Theology, for his presentation, titled “Worship in the Face of Corona: Ritual, Place, People, Things,” exploring the concept of “event” as a key for interpreting and practicing worship in the future.
  • Sarah Mount Elewononi, independent scholar in greater Pittsburgh, PA, pre- sented on her pastoral experiences in preparing and teaching a baptismal- ly-oriented Tai Chi program to a secular audience in her paper titled, “Steps to Safe Harbor: The Power of Ritual and Multivariant Symbols.”
  • Shawn Strout, Virginia Theological Seminary, offered his paper from a forth- coming article for the Anglican Theological Review, “The Myth of Prayer Book Uniformity,” in which he considered the tensions present in consider- ing how a desire for a common prayer book belies tensions between text and context, Catholic and Reformed theologies, and local and global realities.
  • Kent Burreson, Concordia Seminary, Louis, presented his paper, “Liturgi- cal Freedom and Love in Martin Luther’s Liturgical Theology,” in which he sought to recast interpretations of Luther’s liturgical reform by emphasizing that Luther’s primary orientation was to provide liturgies that were “evangel- ical and catholic,” seeking to build up the life of the church.
  • Timothy Gabrielli, University of Dayton, presented his paper, “Faith and Li- turgical Imagination: A Case Study,” which considered the experiences of “doubt and darkness” which plagues some of the modern saints, such as Tere- sa of Calcutta, in order to consider what such struggles might teach us about faith in the contemporary world.

Other Work and Plans for the Future

Our future plans include a slate of pre- sentations which hope to focus on the following topics, among others:

  • Martin Luther on Baptismal identity and formation
  • Roman Catholic liturgical renewal in the twentieth century, 1900-1960
  • Anglican clergy and the historical offices
  • Roman Catholic instituted lay ministries and contemporary applications
  • Intersections between Christian baptism and secular rituals

Our seminar has considered devoting a portion of our meeting time to more deeply considering baptismal identity and Christian formation, as this has become a recurring point of interest for several of our members.

We encourage submissions of works-in-progress, and particularly encourage eligible graduate students working on topics within the modern era to bring their work to our group for discussion and feedback.

We will be electing a new convener next year, to serve a term from 2024-2026.

Seminar Report 2020

Convener

Katharine E. Harmon, PhD, Assistant Professor of Theology at Mari- an University, Indianapolis, IN; Rev. Kent J. Burreson, PhD (2020 Convener pro tem), Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Professor of Systematic Theology and Dean of the Chapel at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO

Members in Attendance

Sarah Blair, Rychie Breidenstein, Kent Burreson, Tim Gabrielli, Bill Johnston, Tim O’Malley, Kevin Moroney, Sarah Mount Elewononi, Jonathan Riches, Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero, Todd Stepp, Shawn Strout, Karen Westerfield Tucker

Visitors in Attendance

Laura Steiner

Description of Work

The seminar’s work began with a paper from Kevin Moroney entitled, “Liturgy for Mission: An Interpretation of Resolution A068 of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention 2018,” providing a map for how prayer book revision in the Episcopal Church might proceed. Following the MLK Academy Field Trip, the Seminar met jointly with the Liturgy and Culture Seminar. This resulted from seminar discussions in 2019, indicating the desire to explore  a topic jointly with another seminar, and a topic which had surfaced in previous meetings was the relationship between liturgy and culture.

In the first half of this joint-seminar meeting, Dr. Catherine Meeks, the Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta, presented on the work of the Center under the general topic of Living into God’s Dream for Racial Healing and Harmony. The latter portion of the joint session saw the presentation of two papers that resulted from grant-funded congregational studies: Kent Burreson’s and Rhoda Schuler’s paper on “Lessons from Contemporary Lutheran Catechumenates” from research into current catechumenates in Lutheran congregations in the United States, and Ruth Meyers’ paper resulting from research into “Worship in Racially Diverse Congregations in the Episcopal Church.”

Following the joint  session on Friday, the Saturday session brought a presentation from Todd Stepp entitled “Authentic Christian Worship: Discovering Wesley’s Criteria,” prepared for the work of the Worship and Liturgy Committee of the Word Methodist Council. Sarah Mount Elewononi followed with a paper exploring the Wesleyan Way of Salvation as a map, coupled with biblical poetic imagery and paradigms, to guide congregational life and identity. Timothy Gabrielli then presented a work in progress entitled “Help My Unbelief: Faith, Doubt, and the Body in Liturgy and Catechesis,” examining the unembodied assumptions and practices of liturgical catechesis. Our presentations concluded with Timothy O’Malley’s paper exploring liturgical epistemology entitled “Lex Orandi as Habit: John Henry Newman and a Liturgical Epistemology.” The last part of Saturday focused on best practices for the seminar, including the distribution of papers prior to the meeting, and plans for 2021.

Other Work and Plans for the Future

Since many of the papers in Atlanta coalesced unintentionally around the question of how liturgy forms identity, at the 2021 meeting in Seattle, the Seminar plans to explore the issue of the formation of identity through liturgy. A paper will provide literature review relative to this topic. The intention is to explore the possibility of joint publication of essays coming from the seminar on this topic following Seattle and subsequent meetings. Eight members indicated a potential willingness to bring papers/presentations to next year’s meeting, although the slate of papers will be finalized throughout 2020.

Seminar Report 2019

Convener

Katharine E. Harmon, Assistant Professor of Theology at Marian University (IN). She specializes in liturgical renewal and American Catholicism.

Members in Attendance

Sarah Blair, Rychie Breidenstein, Kent Burreson, Martin Connell, Katharine Harmon, Clare Johnson, Kate Mahon, Kevin Moroney, Sarah Mount Elewononi, Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero, Karen Westerfield Tucker

Visitors in Attendance

Tim Gabrielli, Todd Stepp, Shawn Strout

Description of Work

We began our meeting by extended introductions from each attendee, describing current work. On Friday morning, Martin Connell’s presentation connected liturgy and literature, “Sacraments in the Work of Emily Dickinson,” and Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero reported on experiences in digital media, “Musings on Digital Pastoral Liturgy.” In the afternoon, Kent Burreson was joined by colleague Rhoda Schuler for their presentation on their current grant project, “Making Christians: Exploring the Formative Impact of the Adult Catechumenal Process,” and Shawn Strout presented the conclusion to his dissertation, “A Liturgical Theology of the Offertory as Practiced by the Churches of the Anglican Communion.” Sarah Blair concluded our day with her presentation, “50 Years: Uniting Conference of the EUB and Methodist Merger in 1968.” On Saturday, Clare B. Johnson provided detailed insight into liturgical reform, past and present, in Australian contexts with her presentation, “Receiving the Council: historical and contemporary perspectives-an update,” and Katharine E. Harmon presented on her current research work, “Women Religious and the 20th-century Roman Catholic Liturgical Movement.” Rychie Breidenstein concluded our seminar presentations with her paper titled, “The Four Questions: A Traditional Reformed, Yet Living Service of Holy Communion,” and we ended our meeting with an evaluation of the seminar and the development of plans for NAAL 2020.

Other Work and Plans for the Future

In the coming year, in addition to papers given by individual members, we plan to center a discussion on liturgy and culture by reading a shared text. We hope to partner with another seminar to invite more dialogue partners into our discussion.