Recovery of the Sacred: Reforming the Reformed Liturgy

by James Hitchcock

Overview

James Hitchcock gives an extraordinarily incisive analysis of the liturgical abuse and destructive liturgical reforms brought about by professional liturgists and other "experts" over the last thirty years. Hitchcock chronicles the havoc wreaked by modern liturgists who abandoned the noble purposes of the classical (pre-1965) Liturgical Movement whose aim was to deepen people's appreciation of the inexhaustible mystery of the liturgy by elevating the practice of the liturgy to incorporate neglected riches of earlier centuries, especially the Patristic Age. Instead of seeking a deeper understanding of the great traditions of the Church through the ages, liturgists have sought "relevance" by means of continued adaptation to contemporary culture.

Hitchcock reveals how the tendency toward a desacralized liturgy has had the most profound effects on the whole life of the Church, as well as society. One's basic approach to liturgy is likely to be both a reflection and a catalyst to a whole range of values and beliefs. As Hitchcock states, "It is impossible to change basic symbols and rituals without also changing the life of the society whose symbols and rituals they are."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681495361
Publisher:	Ignatius Press
Publication date:	03/20/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	228 KB

About the Author

James Hitchcock, Ph.D., is a longtime professor of history at St. Louis University, which he attended as an undergraduate. He received his masters and doctorate degrees from Princeton University and has authored several books, including The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life; The Recovery of the Sacred; What Is Secular Humanism; and Catholicism and Modernity: Confrontation or Capitulation?