Changing Face of Jewish and Christian Worship in North America

The Making of Jewish and Christian Worship, volume 1 of Two Liturgical Traditions, surveyed the origins and growth of Christian and Jewish liturgy from the first century of the common era until our time. Volume 2, The Changing Face of Jewish and Christian Worship in North America, follows up with an examination of the recent revolution in Jewish and Christian liturgies. The book reflects the particular role of North America in the worldwide experiment in liturgical renewal.

The introductory essay inquires, What is a liturgical tradition? Part 1 (Liturgical Traditions and Theologies of the Other’‘) is a self-conscious reflection on how Jewish and Christian attitudes toward each other have been expressed in the forms of each tradition’s worship. All six of the authors in Part 2 (American Reform or Second Reformation?) have been intimately involved with current liturgical editing and write firsthand accounts of what they think they and their colleagues have accomplished in the new Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish liturgical books. Part 3 (Critiquing Liturgical Reforms) addresses the question of theology, feminist theory, and poetics against which the liturgical works themselves must be judged. The conclusion of this volume looks forward: Where are our traditions heading?

A reconsideration of liturgical traditions in general against the backdrop of case studies and critiques, this book reevaluates the challenge posed to Jews and Christians alike as they aspire to reshape, yet retain, the liturgical traditions they have inherited.

Contributors include: Lawrence A. Hoffman, Paul F. Bradshaw, Samuel E. Karff, John Gurrieri, Kathleen Hughes, Eugene Brand, Charles P. Price, Hoyt L. Hickman, Jules Harlow, Stanley Dreyfus, David N. Power, Michael A. Signer, Janet Walton, and Mark Searle.