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Title: Nieuwe wegen en bekende horizonten in een niet meer zo vertrouwd landschap
Subtitle: De theologische studie van liturgie en sacramenten
Author(s): GELDHOF, Joris
Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie
Volume: 51    Issue: 1   Date: 2011   
Pages: 61-75
DOI: 10.2143/TVT.51.1.3203371

Abstract :
Liturgy study has long been known for three characteristics. It simultaneously consists of 1) studying the history of Christian worship, 2) reflection on the way it expresses Christian faith and 3) developing methods and models that bring people closer to the church’s cultic life of prayer. This article pauses to consider each of these components (historical, systematic and pastoral) of liturgical studies. In each case we look to the past to demarcate tendencies that could guide the field of study now or that will do so in the future. A purely text-oriented, or genetic, approach can no longer satisfy the history of liturgy. Theology of liturgy and sacramental theology need to grow toward a convincing synthesis and a true cross-fertilisation. Pastoral liturgy needs enrichment from the introduction of empirical methods and from further work by the still embryonic mystagogic paradigm. This article argues that the theological character of liturgical studies will be important in the future, even if this is not obvious in the current, Western European socio-cultural context. Beside its reflection on the internal operation of liturgical science, this article also refers to the socio-cultural, academic and ecclesial contexts in which liturgical scholars and sacramental theologians (must) work today. It is clear that great challenges loom, but it is equally obvious that great opportunities are on the way. While the landscape around Christian liturgy may have grown unfamiliar, new paths can be opened toward familiar horizons.

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