Liturgies East and West

Liturgical scholars will tell you that it has become a commonplace--especially for those influenced by the Baumstark-Mateos-Taft school of liturgical history--that liturgy today can only be studied comparatively. A recent academic symposium did just that, and was recently published: Hans Jurgen Feulner, ed. Liturgies in East and West. Ecumenical Relevance of Early Liturgical Development: Acts of the International Symposium Vindobonense I (Lit Verlag, 2013), 352pp.

This book contains many articles of interest to Eastern Christians, including one from the Greek Orthodox scholar Stefanos Alexopolous (author of the definitive work on the pre-sanctified liturgy), “Accepting Adult Converts in the Orthodox Church: Theory and Practice.”

About this book the publisher further tells us:

The celebration of the liturgy is central to the life of faith and also for the self-understanding of the various churches in the East and West. An amazing convergence of Christian denominations has taken place in the area of liturgy and liturgical studies since the Second Vatican Council, entering also into the practice of liturgical celebration. In this collection - with contributions from a symposium held in Vienna in November 2007 - internationally recognized scholars from various Christian denominations present the ecumenical contributions and the Jewish roots of the Christian liturgy. [PLEASE NOTE: The individual essays in this volume are written in various languages. The book contains ten essays in English, eight in German, and two in French.] (Series: Austrian Studies of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology / Osterreichische Studien zur Liturgiewissenschaft und Sakramententheologie - Vol. 6)