Liturgy 39.3-4: Worship in a Divided World

Issue 39.3-4 of Liturgy is entitled “Worship in a Divided World” and is guest-edited by Benjamin Durheim. What follows is an excerpt from Durheim’s introduction to the issue.

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The articles in this volume comprise a conversation that approaches division from perspectives that value worship and liturgical practice not simply as antidotes to division, but as deeply human expressions of religion and spirituality that must take account of division’s potency and particular effects. Hansol Goo explores the liturgical experiences of worshipers whose worship spaces are shared between groups of different cultural or ethnic backgrounds, especially in relation to immigration. Brian Hehn and Emorja Roberson bring to bear two case studies focused on experiences in cross-cultural and transcultural worship and music that illuminate ways that worship has unfolded in contexts of division.

From perspectives of preaching and proclamation, Leah Schade draws from a six-year research project investigating ministry and church life in politically diverse congregations in order to craft a method for preaching in politically divided contexts. LaRyssa D. Herrington examines Karl Barth’s theology of proclamation through a Black Catholic lens and applies it to social movements in divided contexts such as the Black Lives Matter movement.

Attending to experiences of division within worship itself, Samantha Slaubaugh examines how the inertia of liturgical practice affects those with life-threatening food allergies, and suggests ways to think about reforming worship practices to be more liberative. Interfacing with the discipline of theological ethics, Xavier Montecel brings the virtue ethics tradition to bear on sacramental theology, asking what sacraments do if understood through the lens of virtue. Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, writing from the discipline of practical theology, approaches the question of polarization by presenting a Benedictine liturgical practice—statio—as a liturgically illuminative practice for ordering a community toward stability and commitment even in contexts of division. Also included is a statement crafted by theologians from the Seminar on the Way, a body at the North American Academy of Liturgy that has discerned and suggested liturgical ways forward in the context of remaining Lutheran-Roman Catholic division.

The voices of the authors in this issue bring to bear a creativity and wisdom that helps throw new light on particular questions of worship in a divided world. I am deeply grateful to them for their work and energy in crafting these pieces, and I am so glad to have a part in sharing their work with Liturgy’s readers and the wider church.