Fruits of the Liturgical Renewal Movement

Stephanie Perdew

The issue of Liturgy entitled “Fruits of the Liturgical Renewal Movement,” guest-edited by Stephanie Perdew, president of The Liturgical Conference (TLC) which publishes this journal. –– Melinda Quivik

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Welcome to this issue of Liturgy, featuring articles by board members of the Liturgical Conference. Very rarely do our readers hear from us en masse, as much of our work as board members is done behind the scenes. Our quarterly journal is expertly edited by Melinda A. Quivik. We work with her to plan thematic issues, discuss content ideas, and identify and recruit guest editors from across a range of denominational backgrounds, liturgical traditions, and academic areas of interest. From time to time a member of our board will serve as a guest editor or author, but in most cases our guest editors are recruited from beyond our board. They in turn recruit a depth and breadth of contributors to Liturgy. We aim for our journal to reach readers at the intersection of theology and practice in the academy and in the parish, those who are just undertaking seminary training, those who are teaching, and those ministering directly from the pulpit, table, and font to those in the pews. This issue gives our readers a peek into the work we do on behalf of Liturgy as well as the work of our own research, preaching, presiding, writing, and teaching.

Currently our board is comprised of thirteen members representing nine denominational traditions: United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Evangelical Covenant, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, American Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, and Reformed Church in America. All of us have been trained in liturgical studies, liturgical history, or liturgical theology. Many of us are ordained in our respective traditions. Some of us teach in academic or seminary settings in full time or adjunct capacities. Six of us serve in parishes as preachers, presiders, and musicians. The denominational diversity of our board would surprise The Liturgical Conference’s founders, but our work bridging the seminary, academy, and parish in offering liturgical leadership and forming liturgical leaders would not.

The Liturgical Conference itself has its roots in the Liturgical Renewal Movement of the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries, which can be traced from the work of Prosper Guéranger of the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes, Belgium, to the work of Odo Casel and the Benedictine monks of Maria Laach, Germany, to Pius Parsch of Klosterneuburg, Austria. The trajectory of their concerns was to draw upon the recovery of ancient liturgical texts which were just then coming to light, undertaking the process of ressourcement in asking how a “return to the sources” of ancient liturgy might inform modern practice. They raised the questions of liturgy in the vernacular, lectionary-based liturgical preaching, awareness of the liturgical year, the tri-fold, triune structure of eucharistic anaphoras, and the education and formation of the assembly for participation in worship . . . .

In this issue you will find the first in our “UnMute Yourself” feature column. Board members will be writing the column in each forthcoming issue to address timely liturgical concerns. At the time of this writing, the experiments in virtual worship undertaken during the coronavirus pandemic is fresh on our minds. Lester Ruth kicks us off by asking about the architecture of virtual worship.

All of the essays in Liturgy 36, no. 3 are available by personal subscription and through many libraries.

Stephanie Perdew is the President of The Liturgical Conference, the Senior Pastor of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wilmette, Illinois, and an affiliate faculty member at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Stephanie Perdew, “Fruits of the Liturgical Renewal Movement: Introduction,” Liturgy 36, no. 3 (2021): 1-4.