There’s some great new stuff on Liturgical Theology and ecclesiology just out. I highly recommend both of these books.
Shaping the Christian Life: Worship and the Christian Religious Affections
Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshipping Community
Both of these books helpfully examine the ways in which the liturgy forms and transforms the church as a community and how it forms the character of Christians in community. The study of the relationship between worship and ethics – or better, the reality that worship is ethics – is, in my opinion one of the most crucial theological and ethical topics for the life of the church today.
Also, a great book I picked up recently on a related topic:
We Are What We Celebrate: Understanding Holidays and Rituals
In teaching on the Lectionary and the Christian Year for some time, I’ve become convinced that how we structure out calendar is a profoundly religious and political act. The Christian Calendar, which rehearses the biblical narrative of the triune God is a profound reordering of our lives that stands in contrast to that of the world, which structures our work, our leisure, our meals and our celebrations toward idolatry, particularly in its consumerist mode. This book is very helpful at understanding how holidays and rituals that are created by nations shape and mold their citizens into certain kinds of people.
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