St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology (Jan 2024)
Embodiment and Liturgy
Abstract
People assembled in worship and prayer constitutes one of the most common images of the Christian religion; indeed, it is often what people have in mind when they say ‘church’. While Christian worship has developed patterns and content specific to its beliefs from the New Testament period forward, still, as engagement in symbol and ritual it comprises activity basic to universal human existence. As symbol and ritual, worship is fundamentally embodied experience. This entry begins with a theological definition of Christian worship, and an explanation of its meaning and function in the life of the church. An overview of terminology for ritual forms of worship will come to focus on ‘liturgy’ as the operative term in Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and some Protestant denominations. Three theological understandings of the power and purpose of Christian liturgy are predominant among these traditions, both historically and today. Taken together, these understandings lead to an acknowledgement of the multidimensionality of human bodily experience in the ritual performance of faith within these traditions. Following sections explore how, from biblical origins forward, time has been the primary framework for liturgical worship – both through the corporately observed cycles of Sunday, the week, and the year, and through sacramental rites specific to an individual’s life cycle. Being corporeal, Christian liturgy is likewise a matter of space, and each of the major liturgical families – Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant –have distinctive environmental and artistic features. All these topics invite consideration of how worship can engage the physical and mental capacities of participants while respecting differences in their individual abilities.
