Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 210
•
Trim: 6½ x 9⅜
978-0-7425-5216-6 • Hardback • October 2007 • $94.00 • (£72.00)
978-0-7425-5217-3 • Paperback • October 2007 • $36.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-4616-3896-4 • eBook • October 2007 • $34.00 • (£25.00)
Alejandro García-Rivera is professor of systematic theology at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley. He is the author of A Wounded Innocence: Sketches for a Theology of Art. Thomas Scirghi is associate professor of liturgical theology at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley. He regularly lectures on liturgical and sacramental theology.
1 Introduction
2 This Blessed Mess, Scirghi; A Sensible Mystery, García-Rivera
3 Something Beautiful for God, Scirghi; In Whom we live and move and have our being, García-Rivera
4 It is right to give God thanks and praise, Scirghi; The Glory of the Lord, García-Rivera
5 Go in peace…then what?, Scirghi; Do this in memory of me, García-Rivera
6 Conclusion
Garcia-Rivera and Scirghi inspire hope that the Church can find a way to worship that is faithful to the tradition and 'living' in fresh, new ways. Living Beauty provides a path for discovering common ground among vying viewpoints on reforming the reformed liturgy today, and offers a theological framework for moving beyond the polarizing issues that have crippled efforts at liturgical renewal since the Second Vatican Council.
— Judith Kubicki, Fordham University
In the interplay between theory (Garcia-Rivera) and pastoral context (Scirghi), this study contributes a perspective that may resonate with many different voices and allow some groups to move beyond the 'worship wars' into fruitful conversation. For those not immersed in such issues, the book is a welcome addition to the interdisciplinary nature of aesthetic theology, this time applying the insights of aesthetics to the specificity of liturgy and further concretizing the theory in the lived experience of liturgical celebration.
— Lizette Larson-Miller, Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Readers will find this book helpful and challenging, whatever their particular involvement in the liturgy may be. While it will be edifying to the individual, the book's theses are, like its very structure, essentially dialogic, dramatic and community-oriented; I suspect it would be particularly fruitful in group discussions. Although it is written from a Roman Catholic perspective, Living Beauty will speak to any tradition, with direct applications to Anglican and many Protestant liturgies. While some parts of the book may be somewhat dense for the non-specialist, overall the book is accessible to the educated general reader.
— Cithara