Liturgical Hermeneutics: Interpreting Liturgical Rites in Performance

Liturgical rites are usually discussed either as texts or as performances. This book urges an approach which considers text and performance as inseparable entities. Using the resources of philosophical hermeneutics, it explores Anglican eucharistic, baptismal and burial orders, showing how the textually enshrined promise of the Kingdom of God is renewed at each performance of the rite. It is this promise which the act of worship invites participants to appropriate for themselves. The encounter between text and perfomance opens up questions of language and subjectivity, and suggests that at its best, liturgy could provide a model for secular cultural practices which share its concerns.