| Faculty of Catholic Theology, Religion, Society, and World Relations, Research

New publication: "Amt - Macht - Liturgie"

That religious rituals can certainly be a means of power is undisputed in ritual research. The fact that Christian liturgy and the question of power in the church are also connected is less in view so far, but it is becoming a topic in the context of the crisis of the Catholic Church. The dogmatist Julia Knop and the liturgy scholar Benedikt Kranemann, both from the University of Erfurt, together with the Salzburg fundamental theologian Gregor Maria Hoff, have just published an anthology which examines the connection between liturgy, power and ecclesiastical transformation processes from different scientific perspectives.

The contributions of scholars from Germany and abroad explore the aesthetics, logic and pragmatics of power for worship. They are interested in performative manifestations of power which are encountered in history and the present, in text and ritual, in role-playing, use of space, staging and standardization of worship. The research perspective of the book is described in this way: It is interested "in the connection between ministry and power as it is reflected in the liturgy as the determining ecclesial living space. The liturgy provides the primary visual space for lived power in the church: for its codes, its practices, its plausibilities. Here Catholic sacred power perforates itself - in its strong expressive aspects as well as in its problematic stagings". The differently focused contributions show that many crisis symptoms of the Catholic Church become manifest especially in the service. They want to initiate a scientific discussion, which is overdue. At the same time, they can contribute analyses and criteria for a discussion that is currently being conducted about far-reaching reforms in the Catholic Church.

Gregor Maria Hoff, Julia Knop und Benedikt Kranemann (Hrsg.)
Amt – Macht – Liturgie. Theologische Zwischenrufe für eine Kirche auf dem Synodalen Weg
(Quaestiones disputatae 308)
Freiburg/Br.: Herder 2020
ISBN 978-3-451-02308-8
320 pages
48 EUR