Holy Ground: A Liturgical Cosmology

by Gordon W. Lathrop

Gordon Lathrop explores how the central symbols and interactions of Christian liturgy yield, for their participants, a new understanding and experience of the world. He creatively considers various kinds of worldmaking, the diverse maps, and differing senses of "cosmology" in which we all live. Holy Ground illumines how certain liturgical reforms can contribute to a refreshed sense of ecological ethics - to a Christian sense of the holiness of the earth itself.

Genres: Theology, Religion

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Gordon W. Lathrop is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a retired professor of liturgy. Born in 1939 and educated in Los Angeles, CA (Occidental College), St. Paul, MN (Luther Seminary), and Nijmegen, the Netherlands (the Catholic University of Nijmegen), from 1969-1984 he was parish pastor in Darlington, WI, campus pastor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA, and seminary chaplain at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA. After teaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia from 1984 until 2004, he was named Professor of Liturgy Emeritus there. From 2006-2012 he was Visiting Professor of Liturgical Studies in Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music. In recent years he has taught courses at the St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark., and here at the Virginia Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology (Fortress 1993), Holy People: A Liturgical Ecclesiology (Fortress 1999), Holy Ground: A Liturgical Cosmology (Fortress 2003), The Pastor: A Spirituality (Fortress 2006), and The Four Gospels on Sunday: The New Testament and the Reform of Christian Worship (Fortress 2012). In 1985 he was the President of the North American Academy of Liturgy. In 1994, 1995 and 1997, he was a participant in international Faith and Order meetings on Worship and Christian Unity. In 2011 he received an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Helsinki, Finland. From 2011 until 2013 he was President of Societas Liturgica, the international society of scholars in liturgy. He lives now in Arlington, VA, with his wife. Their children and grandchildren live all over the United States.

He continues to write and teach. His research interests are especially focussed on Bible and liturgy, liturgical theology, and liturgy and ecumenism.

Reviews

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Lathrop's book a fascinating read. It definitely draws on a much richer liturgical background than many evangelicals are familiar with, but that made much of the metaphors and ways of understanding quite a bit deeper and richer, in my mind. I didn't find it the easiest read, but there were moments when I really enjoyed the way Lathrop connected things conceptually as well as artistically.

In fact, one thing I liked about the book was that there was a definite artistic flair to the writing, a rhetorical approach which less concerned about conveying information and more concerned with capturing the heart or wonder of the reader. Though he didn't pull it off all the time, it made for a much more impassioned reading than one normally gets.

My first thought, in reading this book was that it would attempt to map out a cosmology through the liturgy. But instead what Lathrop really did was point towards how the liturgy could contribute to one's cosmology. This included him exploring some specific aspects of a cosmology that the liturgy could help shape (if engaged intentionally), but it is not a thorough engagement or defining of a Biblical cosmology.

I thought one of his greatest contributions is how he points towards the potential of the liturgy to shape and define the cosmology of its participants. The emphasis, though, is upon the term "potential"—just having a liturgy in no ensures that such a cosmology is being communicated or invested in its participants.

In the end, if you are interested in thinking about liturgy in a much more grander way, this is an excellent book. It could also contribute towards better understanding how and why an intentional liturgy is important for the theological development and maturation of a church. And I think it would be great for evangelicals to read mainly because it would come at the issues and concept of the liturgy from a different way than most are used to.