The Liturgical Cosmos: The World through the Lens of the Liturgy

by David W. Fagerberg

The Church's liturgy is an appropriate object for academic study, but it is first and foremost the object of the faithful's participation in divine worship, the site of humanity's deification by the Trinity. The liturgy is thus not just something that we can look at, but, like a window, it is also something we can look from, viewing other matters of Christian doctrine and practice—indeed, the entire created world—through the lens of the liturgy. In this collection of essays representing nearly two decades of writing and reflecting on liturgical theology, David Fagerberg sets out to explore the liturgical cosmos, attending to how the lex orandi of the liturgy illuminates and shapes the lex credenda of the Church's faith and the lex vivendi of the Christian moral life. Addressing such topics as asceticism, beauty, Scripture, spirituality, sacrifice, and social renewal, The Liturgical Cosmos directs our gaze to the ways in which the abundant life that Christ came to offer—a life communicated sacramentally and celebrated cultically—is a life lived daily, and liturgically, as the Holy Spirit refreshes our world and conforms us to Christ, the image of the Father.

Genres: Theology, Catholic

288 pages, Hardcover

Published February 15, 2023

About the author

David Fagerberg holds a B.A. from Augsburg College (1972), M.Div. from Luther Northwestern Seminary (1977), M.A. from St. John’s University, Collegeville (1982), S.T.M. from Yale Divinity School (1983), and M.A., M.Phil., and PhD. from Yale University (1991). He taught in the Religion Department of Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, from 1988-2001; the Liturgical Institute at Mundelein Seminary 2002-03; he has been at Notre Dame since 2003. His area of study is liturgical theology – its definition and methodology – and how the Church’s lex orandi (law of prayer) is the foundation for her lex credendi (law of belief). He also has interests in sacramental theology, Eastern Orthodoxy, linguistic philosophy, scholasticism, G. K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis.

Reviews

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bad book with lots of great insight and theology. When I say bad, I only mean that it is poorly written. I struggled to think of just one word so in honor of this author's style I'll offer a slew of them (although I apologize for limiting this to only English words as this author would never do that): overwrought, pretentious, verbose, grandiloquent, or perhaps purple prose.

If one has the patience to endure unnecessary rambling this book can be very rewarding. The thinking that goes into this book is sorely needed in liturgical theology, sadly the prose illuminates the precise reason why that movement struggles. No matter how much you insist that your movement is grounded, practical, accessible, and for everyone, it never will be until you can communicate it as such.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author accomplished the (I thought impossible) goal of making Schmemann interesting to me. Good essays.

[Michael Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays from Fagerberg on different dimensions of liturgical theology. This book was surprisingly helpful for me in reorienting my own understanding of the effects of liturgy.