Nichols assesses the liturgical reform from the three converging viewpoints of a historian, sociologist and cultural critic, pinpointing areas that need to be addressed.
The Church is a mystery. Believers who want to enter more deeply into that mystery will reflect on the Church's basic characteristics, the "marks of the Church": what it means for the Church to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Non-Catholics and nonbelievers looking to appreciate how Catholics regard the Church also will desire to understand these "marks". In this book, renowned Dominican theologian Fr. Aidan Nichols explores the Church's characteristics. Drawing on insights from four theological masters-Henri de Lubac, Jean Tillard, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Charles Journet-Nichols seeks to help Catholics and non-Catholics to "figure out" the Church, on at least a fundamental level. The four masters in question do not claim to exhaust the mystery of the Church, nor does Nichols. They do, however, assist the reader in going deeper into the mystery. To accomplish this goal, Nichols appeals to both the Scholastic tradition and authors influenced by the ressourcement movement in theology. In this way, he provides readers with a sense of Catholicism's breadth, which is at once orthodox and yet generously conceived.
Redeeming Beauty explores the richness of orthodox Christian tradition, both Western and Eastern, in matters of 'sacral aesthetics' - a term used to denote the foundations, production and experience of religiously relevant beauty. Aidan Nichols investigates five principal themes: the foundation of beauty in the natural order through divine creative action; explicitly 'evangelical' beauty as a quality of biblical revelation and notably at its climax in Christ; the legitimacy of making and venerating artworks; qualities of the self in relation to objective presentation of the religiously beautiful; and the difficulties of practising a sacral aesthetic, whether as producer or consumer, in an epoch when the visual arts themselves have left behind not only Church but for the greater part the public as well. The thought of theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Balthasar, Ratzinger, Bulgakov, Maritain and others is explored.
This study explores the way in which, by way of the Christian mysteries, divine action impacts human life. The triune God acts in Jesus Christ by means of historical events whose effects transcend time and which are mediated through their celebration in memorial and worship. Drawing on both Evangelical and Catholic writers, Nichols provides evidence that the general portrait of Jesus found in the Pauline letters and the four Gospels rests on reliable historical witness. On this basis, he offers a concise Christology which presents Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Messianic hope of the Old Testament; explores his unique being as laid out in the teaching of the great Ecumenical Councils of the first Christian millennium, and describes how the classic theologian of the Latin tradition, St Thomas Aquinas, sees the chief historical events of Christ’s life as affecting humanity throughout future time. Nichols then looks at the Christian concept of God – namely, Trinitarian monotheism. God so conceived can act efficaciously in the created order and does so by the deployment of his Word and Spirit in ways which express for a fallen, historical world, the dynamics of the interaction of the divine Persons in eternity – Persons who now draw human beings within their range. Those gains in understanding are then applied to the individual mysteries of the life of Christ, from his biological conception to his coming Parousia. For each mystery, Nichols describes a biblical preamble; an account of how the mystery is seen by the Liturgy and the Fathers of the Church; illumination from the three theological masters whom the author makes his own in this work – Aquinas, Balthasar and Bulgakov;- and a visual image drawn from the treasury of sacred art.
This fifth and final book in Aidan Nichols' Introduction to Hans Urs von Balthasar series covers Balthasar's prodigious output from the 1940s to his death in 1988, leaving aside the great multi-volume trilogy. Nichols identifies Balthasar's most significant sources, including the Church Fathers (especially Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, and Augustine), Henri de Lubac, Karl Barth, and Adrienne von Speyr. He, then, guides the reader through Balthasar's works thematically, covering fundamental theological themes (revelation and theology, divine providence, the paschal mystery), Mary and the church, the saints, prayer and mysticism, and Christian literature.
In the second edition of this major work, Dominican theologian Aidan Nichols provides a systematic account of the origins, development and recent history—now updated—of the relations between Rome and all separated Eastern Christians. By the end of the twentieth century, events in Eastern Europe, notably the conflict between the Orthodox and Uniate Churches in the Ukraine and Rumania, the tension between Rome and the Moscow patriarchate over the re-establishment of a Catholic hierarchy in the Russian Federation, and the civil war in the then federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, brought attention to the fragile relations between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which once had been two parts of a single Communion. At the start of the twenty-first century, in the pontificate of Benedict XVI, a papal visit to Russia—at the symbolic level, a major step forward in the ‘healing of memories’— appears at last a realistic hope. In addition, the schisms separating Rome from the two lesser, but no less interesting, Christian families, the Assyrian (Nestorian) and Oriental Orthodox (Monophysite) Churches, are examined. The book also contains an account of the origins and present condition of the Eastern Catholic Churches—a deeper knowledge of which, by their Western brethren, was called for at the Second Vatican Council as well as by subsequent synods and popes. Providing both historical and theological explanations of these divisions, this illuminating and thought-provoking book chronicles the recent steps taken to mend them in the Ecumenical Movement and offers a realistic assessment of the difficulties (theological and political) which any reunion would experience.
In this brief guide, the internationally acclaimed theologian and Dominican priest, Fr. Aidan Nichols seeks to explain the approach to Catholic theology which he has worked out in the course of nearly forty years of publishing books and articles in the service of the Church. He looks at the nature of theology, at its status as a science that is also a wisdom, at its intrinsic principles and methods, its sources, its sub-divisions, and, not least, the qualities which the budding theologian must make his own if theol- ogy is to be authentically Christian and Catholic and assist rather than hinder the Church's mission. In a time of considerable confusion in the intellectual life of the Catholic Church, arising not only from professors but hierarchs, The Theologian's Enterprise offers comprehensive counsel to those setting out in the study of their faith, per- haps for the first time, with solid advice on the habits of mind theology requires. The text seeks to combine profun- dity with brevity. It would be difficult to find a more concise guide in any language.
You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely like Jerusalem." — Song of Songs The highly regarded spiritual writer and theologian Fr. Aidan Nichols, O.P. presents an overview of the Old Testament by showing what it is and its relationship to the New Testament. He explains that it is essential for one to be familiar with the Old Testament in order to understand properly, and in a deeper way, the richness and message of the New. In particular, Fr. Nichols shows how important it is to grasp that connection in order to understand better and to believe in the message and the person of Christ. Ignorance of the Old Testament makes it impossible to comprehend the entire divine plan that stretches between the two Testaments. Nichols maintains that we are ill-equipped to read and understand the great theologians, saints, and Scripture commentators of the Christian era without a deep familiarity with the Old Testament. Even understanding and appreciating the art of the Church remains limited if the Old Testament is a closed book for us. Nichols made use of studies by biblical experts from various Christian denominations notably Evangelicals and Anglicans in writing this widely appealing work. He also drew on the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to help illuminate the beauty of the relationship between the two Testaments.
Students of Catholic theology are often presented with a choice between two great masters: Thomas Aquinas and Hans Urs von Balthasar. What starts as a cordial difference in form and method often morphs into a bitter rivalry. Dominican theologian Father Aidan Nichols sees no need for competition. Balthasar for Thomists gives a panoramic view of Balthasar's thought and spirituality, unearthing many of his innumerable debts to Aquinas and providing context for their points of divergence. The enormous cultural project of Balthasar, writes Father Nichols, differs too much from St. Thomas' pedagogical one "to count as a rival to Thomism on the latter's own ground (and, of course, vice versa)". While constituting an original form of faithful Catholic thought, Balthasar's approach may be regarded as a synthesis of the influences of Thomas and his Franciscan contemporary St. Bonaventure. In its breadth, Balthasar for Thomists serves as a general introduction to Balthasar for those unacquainted with his profound and wide-ranging theology.
This study is an introduction to Catholic theology designed both for the theological student and for the general reader willing to make a certain effort. After introducing the idea of theology adn the virtues desirable in the budding theologian, the bulk of the book falls intro the five sections: (1) the tole of philosophy in theology; (2) the use of the Bible in theology; (3) the resources of tradition, liturgy and sacred art; Fathers, Councils and Creeds; the sense of the faithful; (4) two 'aids to discernment in short history of Catholic theology from the New Testament to the present day. The conclusion considers the features of pluralism and unity which should typify Catholic theology as a whole and suggests how unity may avoid becoming uniformity without pluralism becoming anarchy.
This study contributes to the revival of a more full-blooded Marian teaching and attempts to take the path set by ressourcement theology in recovering the robust voice of witness to Mary. Aidan Nichols, OP, works through the biblical, patristic, and medieval sources and introduces readers to the robust scriptural and theological bases for the Church’s celebration of Mary. He argues for the crucial relevance of Mary in the theological articulation of the gospel, the celebration and practice of the liturgy, and the sacramental life of the Church.
Based on diaries and his published works, Nichols presents an account of Adrian Fortescue's developing personality with an interpretative overview of his writing. Beginning with Fortescue's family background, it looks at his reactions to clerical training, and the wider scene, in Rome and Austria-Hungry at the end of the nineteenth century and the attempts of a widely read and imaginative man to adjust to the limits of priestly life in the East End of London, and the home counties in the Edwardian epoch.
A lively debate continues in the Roman Catholic Church about the character of the teaching provided by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Did it represent a decisive rupture with previous doctrine, or the continuation of its earlier message under new conditions? Much depends on whether the Council texts are read in the light of subsequent events, which shook and sometimes smashed the life, worship and devotion of traditional Catholicism – rather than considered for themselves, in their own right as documents with a prehistory that historians can know. In this work Dominican scholar and writer Aidan Nichols maintains that the Council texts must be interpreted in the light of their genesis, not their aftermath. They must be seen in the light of the public debates in the Council chamber, not the hopes (or fears) of individuals behind the scenes. On this basis, he provides a concise commentary on the eight most significant documents produced by the Council, documents which cover pretty comprehensively all the major aspects of the Church’s life. Nichols describes the Council as a gathering where the Conciliar minority – guarded, prudent, and concerned for explicit continuity at all points with the preceding tradition – played a beneficial role in steadying the Conciliar majority, enthused as the latter was by the movements of biblical, patristic and liturgical ‘return to the sources’ and a desire to reach out to the world of the (then) present-day in generosity of heart. The texts that emerged from this often impassioned debate remain susceptible to a reading of a classically Christian kind. That is precisely what Nichols offers in this book.
Aidan Nichols, O.P. shows how each of these modern masters embodied an aspect of the spiritual life. Then he synthesizes their contributions to help each of us discover the aspects of spirituality that are missing in our own lives.
This is the first comprehensive study of the theological significance of Paul Claudel, a poet frequently cited by literary-minded theologians in Europe and theologically-minded poets (such as von Balthasar, de Lubac and Eliot). His writing combines cosmology and history, Bible and metaphysics, liturgy and the drama of human personality. His work, which continues to arouse discussion in France, was acclaimed in his lifetime as the 'summa poetica' of a new Dante. Aidan Nichols' study demonstrates how Claudel's oeuvre, which is not only poetry but theatre and prose including biblical commentaries, constitutes a rich resource for constructive doctrine, liturgical preaching, and theological reflection. As the comparable example of Geoffrey Hill, Professor of Poetry at Oxford suggests, Aidan Nichols illuminates how Claudel's synthesis of many dimensions remains an important way of practising poetry in the Christian tradition today.
The Art of God Incarnate proposes that visual art is a good way to think of how the incarnation--the central truth-claim of Christianity--can be said to reveal the divine. In the book of Genesis, the human being, fresh from the hands of the Creator, is the image of God in the temple of the world. In an environment of distorted images the prophets sought to make visible by symbolic gestures the divine attitude toward Israel, as well as looking forward to a new divine intervention to redeem history and transfigure human lives. For the New Testament faith, this transforming intervention has come about through the restoration of the divine image in man. Jesus Christ is the true and living icon of the Father and the model from whose radiance human beings generally can be re-fashioned. Despite the anti-iconic legislation of the Hebrew Bible, it was inevitable, therefore, that under the New Covenant a visual art would make its appearance, since God had now made himself visible in his humanized Son. During the iconoclast crisis which shook the Eastern Roman Empire, it was the achievement of the later Greek fathers to spell out this claim doctrinally. Modern aesthetics can throw further light, especially by way of phenomenology and semiotics, on how an artwork can be a communicator of meaning and truth. Finally, there is the question of how human beings are to make their own this revelation of God in the visual realm. In the Latin tradition, especially among the monastic teachers of the twelfth century, the biblical theme of man made in the divine image and likeness was used to speak of how people can be changed by the fresh resources that revelation provides. Through growth in charity they themselves can become saints, "images" of God.
Over the course of a distinguished theological career, Aidan Nichols has produced an array of masterful contributions to the fields of systematic theology, ecclesiology, theological aesthetics, ecumenism, liturgy, and Scripture. Now, inChalice of God, he attempts to synthesize a lifetime of research, teaching, and scholarly reflection in a book that is both rigorously academic and intensely personal. This is Nichols' theological manifesto for the twenty-first century. Drawing together the insights of high scholasticism, the mid-twentieth-century ressourcement movement, a holistic reading of Scripture typical of the best patristic exegesis, and the liturgical tradition and iconography of both East and West, he presents a sound architecture for contemporary Catholic theology. Chalice of God promises to enrich and challenge those who engage in the enterprise of theology for years to come.
The new "Catechism of the Catholic Church," the first since the Council of Trent four centuries ago, will play a major part in shaping the consciousness of Roman Catholic Christians of the foreseeable future. Not only will it remain the foundational text for teaching Catholic doctrine for years to come, but it successfully consolidates the achievements of the Second Vatican Council, and presents the definitive modern synthesis of the Church's ever-living Tradition. Aidan Nichol's study introduces the reader to the doctrinal teaching of this massive text of almost three thousand clauses. Commenting on the vital first part of the Catechism section by section, he succeeds in highlighting its principal themes while drawing attention to the significance of the way they have been handled. More sympathetic to the intentions of the Catechism's authors than some other recent commentators, Nichols is sensitive to the nuances of this magisterial text, and its immense theological import.
This is the first comprehensive study of the theological significance of Paul Claudel, a poet frequently cited by literary-minded theologians in Europe and theologically-minded poets (such as von Balthasar, de Lubac and Eliot). His writing combines cosmology and history, Bible and metaphysics, liturgy and the drama of human personality. His work, which continues to arouse discussion in France, was acclaimed in his lifetime as the 'summa poetica' of a new Dante. Aidan Nichols' study demonstrates how Claudel's oeuvre, which is not only poetry but theatre and prose including biblical commentaries, constitutes a rich resource for constructive doctrine, liturgical preaching, and theological reflection. As the comparable example of Geoffrey Hill, Professor of Poetry at Oxford suggests, Aidan Nichols illuminates how Claudel's synthesis of many dimensions remains an important way of practising poetry in the Christian tradition today.
This accessible little book is a study of spiritual theology, and so a reflection on the spiritual life as found in Christianity. Christian spirituality embodies in personal living the biblical revelation received in the Church of the Fathers and transmitted to its successors in every age. Like everything else in Christian doctrine and practice, Christian spirituality depends on Scripture and Tradition--the two intrinsically inter-related ways in which that revelation is communicated. Using a fusion of sources--Catholic and Orthodox, Latin and Byzantine--Aidan Nichols breaks open Spiritual Theology through eight essential themes: the Word of God as Source; the Liturgy as the Context; Meditation and contemplation; Principles of Asceticism; Asceticism: monastic, lay, and 'pastoral'; Purification; Illumination; Union. Christian spirituality is biblical in its source, it is liturgical in its context, it is ascetical in its development, and it is mystical in its outcome. 'Mystical' is a strong word, but the Dominican school does not accept the opinion that this final issue of spirituality is extra-ordinary--in the words of Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, theologically speaking it is 'eminent, but normal'. These four adjectives--biblical, liturgical, ascetical and mystical--explain the structure of this present book and its content too.
This book explores the Liturgy as the manifestation by cultic signs of Christian revelation, the 'setting' of the Liturgy in terms of architectural space, iconography and music, and the poetic response which the revelation the Liturgy carries can produce. The conclusion offers a synthetic statement of the unity of religion, cosmology and art. Aidan Nichols makes the case for Christianity's capacity to inspire high culture - both in principle and through well-chosen historical examples which draw on the best in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglicanism.
Aidan Nichols' timely book is the first full-scale investigation of Joseph Ratzinger's theology, from the 1950s to the present day. It presents a chronological account of the development of Ratzinger's writing that reflects a wide range of historical and theoretical interests. A comprehensive introduction to a figure who is in his own right, quite apart from his significance in the politics of the Church, a major German Catholic theologian of the twentieth century. This new edition amplifies existing chapters by reference to books by Ratzinger between 1986/1987 and his election as Pope in 2005, and includes two new chapters - Judaism, Islam and other religions, and the secularization and future of Europe.
“Pope Benedict XVI, writing in 1988 as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, described Matthias Joseph Scheeben’s theology as justly praised, but rather less read. My modest hope, through this entirely straightforward study, is to encourage some more—in a phrase Scheeben would relish—ecclesially fruitful reading of him in the English-speaking world.”—From the Author’s Preface Romance and System: The Theological Synthesis of Matthias Joseph Scheeben by Aidan Nichols, OP, is a comprehensive introduction to one of the most significant dogmatic theologians of recent centuries. Exploring the vigor, coherence, and beauty of Scheeben’s theological vision, Nichols concludes that the great German theologian’s work combines “romance and system”: a lyrical appeal to the imagination and a virile challenge to the intellect, the inspiration of metaphor and the conceptual power of an architectonic account of the revelation carried by the Church. Romance and System examines the major themes of Scheeben’s works and underscores their preeminence in Catholic dogmatic theology.
Maximus the Confessor (580–662), giant among early Byzantine theologians, stands at the summit of the Greek patristic tradition. He is spokesman of the Greek-speaking “East” in something of the way Thomas Aquinas came to speak for the Latin “West.” His extreme importance as a spiritual writer is evidenced by the huge space assigned to him in the Philokalia. Believing in the intimate link between dogma and prayer, Maximus opposed the heresies of his day with his own unmatched synthesis of Christian truth. For this, he was persecuted and mutilated, and died in exile. The modern rediscovery of Maximus, begun by Western Christian scholars such as Vittorio Croce, Pierre Piret, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Lars Thunberg, and Juan-Miguel Garrigues, has led to an ever-increasing use of his theology and insights by Orthodox and Catholic theologians throughout Europe and North America. Maximus has also become a central point of reference in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. Aidan Nichols has provided the English-speaking reader with a reliable guide to the major studies on Maximus done in Europe in the past twenty-five years: the period of “rediscovery.” He reads Maximus through the eyes of those who have studied him in depth, and builds up a multi-faceted portrait of this prince among theologians, and a comprehensive overview of his theology, his “Byzantine Gospel.” Along with a brief biography, and an account of the history of the relevant scholarship, sufficient primary texts have been included to convey a sense of Maximus’ powers both as a summarizer of the previous tradition, and as an original theologian in his own right.
Redeeming Beauty explores the richness of orthodox Christian tradition, both Western and Eastern, in matters of 'sacral aesthetics' - a term used to denote the foundations, production and experience of religiously relevant beauty. Aidan Nichols investigates five principal themes: the foundation of beauty in the natural order through divine creative action; explicitly 'evangelical' beauty as a quality of biblical revelation and notably at its climax in Christ; the legitimacy of making and venerating artworks; qualities of the self in relation to objective presentation of the religiously beautiful; and the difficulties of practising a sacral aesthetic, whether as producer or consumer, in an epoch when the visual arts themselves have left behind not only Church but for the greater part the public as well. The thought of theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Balthasar, Ratzinger, Bulgakov, Maritain and others are explored.
Maximus the Confessor (580–662), giant among early Byzantine theologians, stands at the summit of the Greek patristic tradition. He is spokesman of the Greek-speaking “East” in something of the way Thomas Aquinas came to speak for the Latin “West.” His extreme importance as a spiritual writer is evidenced by the huge space assigned to him in the Philokalia. Believing in the intimate link between dogma and prayer, Maximus opposed the heresies of his day with his own unmatched synthesis of Christian truth. For this, he was persecuted and mutilated, and died in exile. The modern rediscovery of Maximus, begun by Western Christian scholars such as Vittorio Croce, Pierre Piret, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Lars Thunberg, and Juan-Miguel Garrigues, has led to an ever-increasing use of his theology and insights by Orthodox and Catholic theologians throughout Europe and North America. Maximus has also become a central point of reference in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. Aidan Nichols has provided the English-speaking reader with a reliable guide to the major studies on Maximus done in Europe in the past twenty-five years: the period of “rediscovery.” He reads Maximus through the eyes of those who have studied him in depth, and builds up a multi-faceted portrait of this prince among theologians, and a comprehensive overview of his theology, his “Byzantine Gospel.” Along with a brief biography, and an account of the history of the relevant scholarship, sufficient primary texts have been included to convey a sense of Maximus’ powers both as a summarizer of the previous tradition, and as an original theologian in his own right.
I . . . find these Fathers to be, in words of William Butler Yeats, 'singing-masters of my soul'. Anyone who prays through the year the Office of Readings in the Roman Liturgy of the Hours will understand why." — Fr. Aidan Nichols, From the Introduction TheSinging-Masters, written by the author of Rome and the Eastern Churches, is a passionate, personalized account of the theological achievement of eighteen of the Church Fathers. Ten come from the Greek East: Irenaeus, Origen, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, Denys the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and John Damascene. Eight come from the Latin West: Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and Bede the Venerable. The Fathers chosen here are those who have been especially authoritative for Catholic doctrine or particularly influential in Church life. While giving a dramatic, humanized account of patristic thought, colored by biographical detail, Aidan Nichols, O.P., draws the reader into a serious discussion of the Fathers' complex theological doctrines. The Singing-Masters offers a holistic and loving introduction to the figures who most shaped Christian thought, both in the East and in the West.
The publication of Hans Urs von Balthasar's seven-volume The Glory of the Lord established von Balthasar as one of the greatest and most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth-century.
Novelist Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) left a mark on twentieth-century literature, not only in her homeland of Norway, but across the West. Her painterly eye for the Scandinavian countryside, her uncompromising emotional realism, her concrete sense of history, her bold vision of woman and man—these won her such acclaim that she received the 1928 Nobel Prize for Literature, not long after the publication of her epic historical novel, Kristin Lavransdatter. During World War II, she loudly opposed anti-Semitism and the Nazi regime, and in the final years of her life, the Norwegian state awarded her the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav—the first time this honor was given to a woman outside the royal family. Among her other celebrated works are the novels The Master of Hestviken and Ida Elisabeth, as well as a powerful biography of Catherine of Siena. But something else set Undset apart. In 1924, she converted to Roman Catholicism, alienating her from Protestants and secular intellectuals alike. This spiritual turn shaped the very heart of her work, as well as her own life as a mother. In a world pockmarked by suffering, disappointment, and cruelty, she discovered that Jesus Christ alone gives meaning to the word "love". Acclaimed theologian and spiritual writer Father Aidan Nichols takes on the figure of Sigrid Undset from a distinctively Christian point of view. Rich in both biography and textual analysis, Sigrid Undset: Reader of Hearts renders a shrewd, colorful account of a writer who allowed her art to be transfigured by the fire of God's mercy and, thus, to be opened to a beauty beyond all telling.
In the last century the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius gave to Russian Orthodoxy an opportunity, in a sustained encounter with the Christian West, to speak with a voice never heard as powerfully before in the western world, and from the date of its foundation in 1928, the Journal of the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius, later Sobornost, sought to strike a good balance between Western and Eastern contributions to Christian thought. It provided an ecumenical encounter principally between the exiled Orthodox intelligentsia of the Russian diaspora and the Catholic party of the Church of England, but also on occasion with Presbyterians, Methodists and other Protestants. In this fascinating account of the work and mission of Sobornost, Aidan Nichols shows how this was to change significantly as the Western tradition began to be seen as taking too many wrong turnings to be a reliable guide for Christian theology at large, and he divides this study into two parts: the first forty years of the journal as a time of encounter more or less on equal terms, and the last fifty years where the meeting of East and West would be increasingly on the East's terms--and, in another striking development, this meant the Greek East rather than the Russian. This process of transformation was only gradual, but by the start of the twenty-first century, Sobornost was fast becoming, especially through its mediation of modern Greek philosophy, theology and spirituality, as well as the more traditional discipline of Byzantine studies, a largely monophonic voice for Orthodoxy in the West. This was a far cry from its origins, even if that voice was also much needed in an often disoriented English, European and North American Christianity. Throughout its history, Sobornost has been invaluable for Western readers in the provision of information about the Eastern Churches, and especially the Byzantine or Chalcedonian Orthodox--always the more important part of both Fellowship and journal. A definitive role for the present and for the future, as they both celebrate their 90th anniversary.
This book explores the Liturgy as the manifestation by cultic signs of Christian revelation, the 'setting' of the Liturgy in terms of architectural space, iconography and music, and the poetic response which the revelation the Liturgy carries can produce. The conclusion offers a synthetic statement of the unity of religion, cosmology and art. Aidan Nichols makes the case for Christianity's capacity to inspire high culture - both in principle and through well-chosen historical examples which draw on the best in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglicanism.
This is a daily prayer book for the Ordinariate those former Anglicans who have recently become a distinct part of the Roman Catholic Church. In creating the Ordinariate, Pope Benedict recognised the treasures that Anglicans brought with them from their own tradition and this book is replete with the riches of Anglican patrimony. It contains material from the Anglican tradition, adapted according to the Roman rite including: an order for morning, evening and night prayer throughout the year spiritual readings for the Christian year the minor offices calendar and lectionary tables For use throughout the English speaking world, this unique volume will fill an immediate need.
This fascinating study of parallel movements sheds new light on spiritual art. More importantly, it asks us to look again at that art and its role in divine revelation, to see what riches are there and what lessons may be learned for a reinvigorated sacred art today.
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