Liturguy and other Leftovers

Liturgy

What is a Liturgy?

a form or formulary according to which public religious worship, especially Christian worship, is conducted.

What is Liturgical Worship?

A formal type of worship which contains set prayers, readings or rituals, usually in a church. Often performed by Catholics or in the Church of England. Advantage It is a worldwide order of service and so can then be followed by people who visit other countries or churches.

Things you may find in a liturgy:

1. Communal Prayer

2. Reading/Hearing the Word

3. A Response of Confession

4. Passing the Peace of Christ

5. Eucharist

6. Music

7. The Church Year

Advantages/disadvantages

Can become rote/meaningless

Can guide worshipers through their worship time and direct them to God and true worship

You know what’s expected—our more-or-less standard order of worship accomplishes much the same thing

Lectionary

A calendar cycle of Scripture readings for church worship services. Often accompanied by homiletical discussions. Instead of a continuous biblical text, these important witnesses contain long Scripture excerpts couched in liturgical documents.

Ancient tradition of using lectionaries—pre-Christian concept

Biblical Criticism

Purpose

A careful, scholastic study or analysis of the Bible. There are many forms of biblical criticism, including: textual, historical, form, tradition, and reader-response. These methods can be grouped into three categories according to the way the biblical text is being analyzed:

Two major forms: Higher and Lower Criticism (speaks more to purpose than type

Lower criticism is an attempt to find the original wording of the text since we no longer have the original writings. Higher criticism deals with the genuineness of the text.

Types

Textual criticism is a science that aims at discovering the original wording and spelling of the biblical text—usually as penned by its first author or finalized by its editor

Historical criticism is about discovering the historical, geographical, and cultural setting of a biblical text.

Form criticism aims to determine the form or genre of a biblical book or section of a biblical book

Tradition criticism attempts to uncover the earlier stages of a text’s history and development.

Source Criticism is about determining what pieces of literature a biblical author or editor used when composing or finalizing a biblical book.

Redaction criticism understands that the biblical authors were not merely copiers of the material they received; they were editors and shapers of the traditions they compiled.

Rhetorical criticism is a method of biblical analysis that seeks to uncover an author’s intended meaning and progression of thought.

Narrative criticism surfaced in the 1980s as a method of interpreting the Gospels

Other types of biblical criticism include, but are not limited to: canon criticism, final-form criticism, feminist criticism, African-American criticism, and post-colonial criticism.

More to Come?