Liberation of the Ecclesia : The Unfinished Project of Liturgical Theology

• Main Author: Hjälm, Michael
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Kyrkovetenskap 2011
• Subjects: communicative action; disclosure; ecclesia; emancipation; identity; lifeworld; liturgical theology; ordo; ortho; otherness; rationalization; ritual action; theory and practice
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-158782; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:isbn:978-91-978719-2-1

This dissertation is a critical study of the paradigm of Liturgical Theology. Focus in this systematic inquiry has been on the Russian school with the focal point in the works of Alexander Schmemann, who was active in the late 20th century. The main question of the thesis concerns the relation between theory and practice in Liturgical Theology.                       It is claimed that the relation between theory and practice corresponds to the relation between ritual action and communicative action. The former concerns the identity founded on the unavoidable alterity immanent in life, but also transcending life through a holistic encounter with life, which enables us to express a holistic attitude to life and the entire world. The latter concerns the equally unavoidable rationalization of life which gives rise to a continuous atomization of life through science and the process of acquiring facts and data.                       The thesis makes use of different theories for the reaching of an explanatory theory in connection to theory and practice. Foremost the Theory of Communicative Action in the works of Jürgen Habermas and the re-interpretation of disclosure by Nikolas Kompridis is used. It is claimed tthat ritual action is connected to a primary disclosure attached to otherness with the intention of revealing the identity of the Ecclesia. Without identity, we are left with a never-ending debate and a continuous atomization where every answer exponentially provokes more questions. Communicative action then is connected with a secondary co-disclosure with the intention for the reaching of mutual understanding, making subjects accountable and responsible. Without communicative action we are bound on a long walk into the never ending sea of being. The missionary imperative in the Ecclesia is dependent on the co-existence of ritual action and communicative action.