Sources, Methods, and Principles in Liturgiology

“Sources, Methods, and Principles in Liturgiology” as presented in this telecourse is the introductory portion of a more extensive classroom course that deals with the way in which worship as prescribed in the Hebrew scriptures and perfected in the actions and teachings of Jesus can be recognized and understood in the scriptures themselves and in writings of theologians in later centuries by methods of text criticism, linguistic analysis, and attention to translation. The telecourse traces the connection between theological developments and the contextualizing of biblical material in the words and actions of liturgical rites. Students are shown some of the modern misinterpretations of liturgy that have arisen from inadequate translation, inattention to historical precedence (with resulting anachronisms), and tendencies in liturgical studies that fail to correct erroneous interpretations. A major focus in this telecourse is on the way in which liturgical manuscripts of the 500s AD show that the structure and ordo missae prayers of the Roman Missal were already established and recorded before the pontificate of Gregory the Great (590-604 AD).