This is a work of first class liturgical scholarship, addressing itself to the pressing pastoral need of cultural adaptation. --Rev. Charles W. Gusmer author of And You Visited Me: Sacramental Ministry to the Sick and the Dying The work of Father Anscar Chupungco on the Cultural Adaptation of the Liturgy is an indispensable work at this time when each country, and especially the 'new' nations of the developing world, attempt to experiment with the adaptation (inculturation) of the liturgy in their own cultures. Without scientific understanding of the history and tradition, such attempts are doomed to either caprice or defeat. This book ought to become the manual of any adaptation. --Rev. Adrien Nocent, OSB Professor, Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselm, Rome In this wide-ranging study, Father Chupungco looks at the way the liturgy was adapted in various cultures in the past. For us, the Constitution on the Liturgy outlines the theological, liturgical, and cultural principles needed when the people of God adapt liturgy to our many cultures in the modern world. --Rev. Patrick Byrne National Liturgical Office, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops In an historical overview, Chupungco first establishes how cultural adaptation is a part of the Roman Church's liturgical heritage. He goes on to articulate principles of adaptation from theological, liturgical, and cultural perspectives. His presentation is based on a blend of scholarly documentation and astute observation of current liturgical problems. The volume makes a solid contribution to both the theoretical and the practical dimensions of pastoral liturgy. --Rev. Gerald V. Lardner, SS St. John Vianney Church, Kenmore, Washington Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB, is the author of 'Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and Catechesis' and 'Shaping the Easter Feast'. He is also the editor of 'Handbook for Liturgical Studies'.

Perhaps nothing is as important to the future of the Church as continuing to make the liturgy meaningful to those who celebrate it. Inculturation, the dynamic translation of the typical editions into the cultures of local Churches, is the key. Inculturation as a branch of liturgical study has a dauntingly wide scope. It covers the areas of history and theology, liturgical and cultural principles, process and methods, sacraments and sacramentals, Liturgy of the Hours, liturgical year, liturgical music, liturgical arts and furnishings, and such related topics as popular religiosity and catechesis. So where does the average pastor, liturgist, or student begin? With this volume the reader is introduced to the different technical terms expressing the relationship between liturgy and culture (indigenization, incarnation, contextualization, adaptation, acculturation ... ). The subsequent discussion on the question of sacramentals, popular religiosity, and liturgical catechesis explains how these disparate topics share the same basic concern of inculturation. Throughout the book the focus is on method. Method encompasses both how one may remain true to the liturgy while also considering what culture offers the liturgy or requires of it. The question of how creativity relates to inculturation is also answered. For the serious student of the liturgy, whether or not you serve a culturally diverse community, this work provides foundations, principles, and methods for creating a liturgy of the people and for the people.

Traces the development of Catholic worship from the apostolic Church to the present.

Explores the cultural connection between Syrian Jewish life and Arab culture in present-day Brooklyn, New York, through liturgical music.

In this book Anscar Chupungco carries forward the work begun in 'Cultural Adaptation of the Liturgy'. Now, more than forty years after the Council, the first stage of the liturgical renewal is complete: the Roman liturgy has been restored to its classical shape. But the challenge of the second stage lies before us: the adaptation of the liturgy to various cultures and traditions. This, the unfinished agenda of the Council, is the task of local churches. Chupungco here calls them to take up that task, Òto be faithful to sound tradition and to foster legitimate progress at the same time . . . an art requiring expertise in the science of liturgy, the virtue of flexibility, and often a great faith in the wisdom of the Church. After reviewing the mandate of the Council, the author examines the future of the liturgy in three chapters: the future shape of the eucharistic celebration, the future shape of sacramental celebrations, and the future shape of the liturgical year. This hopeful and stimulating book will be of great assistance not only to teachers and students of the liturgy, but also to those who daily confront the challenges of the future on a pastoral level.

The primary purpose of Prophetic Liturgy is to inquire into the prophetic dimension of the liturgy. Some questions addressed in the book are: How can a liturgy be prophetic? How can liturgy form and transform individuals and communities? In which sense does the liturgy facilitate a living participation in socio-political-economic life? How does the sacramental practice challenge the church to mediate God's gifts of grace, love, justice, and mercy to the world? Possible answers for these questions begin to emerge as we develop an understanding of religious praxis as an active and dynamic prophetic action, in which the community of faith claims its identity, promotes an engaged faithful Christian life, and affirms the sacramental life of the church as a source of formation and inspiration for prophetic praxis, mediating God's gift for the life of the world. There is risk in presenting an option for prophetic praxis, in that it may go beyond the comfort zone of a community and engender spiritual and political alienation. The most challenging ethical hope of this book is to provide the worshiping community with prophetic awareness of socio-economic injustice, while at the same time preserving the community's historical-cultural identity, its religious values, and its sacramental spirituality.

As an ancient Christian community, the Mar Thoma Church with its vibrant life of mission and sacraments, has a pride of place in the Christendom. The evangelization process and constant migration made this church a global Church, which has encountered multi-cultural and multi-ethnic atmosphere and assimilated various cultural practices and faced faith confrontation in its own geographical regions. This confrontation has caused a renewed view of nature, identity and mission of the Church in a positive manner. Mission is, in fact, the lifeblood of the Church. Through its mission-work and revised liturgy, the Mar Thoma Church took a pioneer role in the formation and nurturing of new Christian communities in India and different parts of the world. Hence, this book reflects on the role of liturgy and its influence on the missionary undertakings of the MTC. It elucidates how the revised liturgy functions as a basis for mission and recounts how liturgy and mission are connected. Further, the diverse mission centres of the Church and its cultural specialties, an integration of liturgy and evangelism, importance of liturgicalorientation and training, are also dealt with in detail. Added to this, the various challenges of the Church in its mission fields and diaspora regions are studied in the framework of the liturgy. The scope of liturgical renewal is looked into where the liturgical adaptation and possibilities of contextual liturgies in the Church are studied. This study concludes with some of the pertinent liturgical proposals for the furtherance to sustain the life and mission of the Church. With a living experience and profound theological understanding, this ancient but reformed Church has something unique to offer to the whole Christendom.

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, this volume assembles the liturgical documents needed by students and pastoral ministers to understand the theological, historical, and pastoral significance of this influential liturgical document.

This is a study of the social construction and the impression management of the public forms of worship of Catholicism and Anglicanism. Interest centres on the dilemmas of the liturgical actors in handling a transaction riddled with ambiguities and potential misunderstandings. The study is an innovative effort to link sociology to theology in a way that serves to focus on an issue of social praxis.