A New “Soft Spot”: The Structure and Placement of Baptismal and Marriage Rites In Post-Vatican-II Eucharistic Liturgy
by Prof. Christian McConnell, PhD. (Faculty of Theology - St. Michael’s College)
Toronto School of Theology - University of Toronto
Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) was a Mexican nun and poet who was not only an important writer of the Baroque period, but also considered the first great Latin American writer. Her remarkable life and work was praised during her lifetime, being called The Tenth Muse in a time when scholarship in women was not encouraged nor appreciated. Sor Juana has been praised for centuries for her literary skills, with recent scholarship dedicated to the theological nature of her work and her contribution to feminist issues.
The fragmentation of the theological curriculum typically has left liturgy and homiletics not only as separate disciplines, but also as disciplines that have relatively little to do with each other. This paper will explore Calvin's notion of the sacramentality of preaching as one way of holding the liturgy and homiletics together.
This lecture discusses the highly relevant and polemical question of the different perceptions of the Jews and Israel offered in the diverse Christian liturgies from the first up to the twenty-first centuries, in the eastern (Syrian, Armenian, Ethiopian, Coptic) and western (Roman, Gallican, Ambrosian, and Mozarabic as well as Reformed) traditions, taking into account liturgical texts from the Liturgy of the Hours, Baptism, and especially the Eucharist, with particular attention to the Eucharistic Prayers.
The paintings in the Old St. Anthony’s Church are the most complete and best preserved examples of 13th century Coptic art. They are considered “masterpieces.” The paintings were “uncovered” in 1999 as a result of an extensive three years cleaning and conservation program funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by the American Research Centre in Egypt (ARCE) in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Monastery. In addition to conservation, an important part of the project has been comprehensive documentation including a publication: Monastic Visions – The Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Anthony at the Red Sea, edited by Elizabeth Bolman (2002). The paintings were not seen for at least 400 years. The majority of the paintings were part of a single program with inscriptions dating according to the Coptic calendar, AM 949 (anno martirorum)— AD1233. Inscriptions also indicate that the paintings were initially executed by a Coptic team under the supervision of the master painter, also a Copt named “Theodore” who described himself as the zographis —“the writer of life.” While one can study the conservation accomplishments that have rendered these paintings visible to us, or Coptic medieval iconographic development, the paper will “walk through” the church to illustrate how place and space in this church were carefully constructed to celebrate Coptic identity and spirituality in the liturgical life of the monks and faithful.
Of the many liturgical texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice are perhaps the most intriguing and mystifying. Indeed, some scholars have pointed to the collection as representing one of the roots of Jewish mysticism. It will be argued that this series of thirteen liturgical pieces that were offered during the first thirteen sabbaths of the solar year in fact offered a transformative rite in which the participants might be transformed into a (near) angelic state. The Songs’ allusive use of Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1 make them a not-so-distant relative of the Christian Sanctus and Jewish Qedushah.”
This seminar will establish a union between space and worship in a realm where Architecture meets Theology. We will discover a liturgy where space will pray with us, and our worship will gather us up. For these entities to participate in such a meeting each must be configured so it will be compatible with the other - space must have a language that can convey meaning, and worship must have a structural logic. The value of this union is that it enables us to create and order spaces that will support our ministries. Gerald Robinson, a Liturgical Consultant, has assisted many churches in creating supportive worship space. He teaches an M.Div. course "Shaping Space for Worship" for T.S.T. at Trinity College. 
We learn about God in our spoken words of prayer and praise. We also learn about God through the hymns we sing, for our congregational songs can articulate our theology—what we believe about God in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. Drawing on the church’s congregational songs, Nancy Hardy will invite us to discover liturgical theology within the hymns we sing. The Rev. Hardy has had a varied pastoral and educational ministry within The United Church of Canada, working in congregations in the Maritimes and southern Ontario and serving as Mission Study Editor at the United Church’s national office. She has written and edited numerous publications within the United Church, including “Gathering,” a major liturgical resource. She co-chaired the committee responsible for the publication of Voices United, the hymnbook of The United Church of Canada.
facilitator for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, a past President of the North American Academy of Liturgy, and is currently pastor of St. Munchin parish in Cameron, MO. He holds a doctorate in sacred theology from Sant' Anselmo in Rome and is the author of numerous books and resources, including, Celebrating Initiation: A Guide For Priests (World Library Publications, 2008), When Other Christians Become Catholic (Liturgical Press, 2007), Let Us Pray: A Guide to the Rubrics of Sunday Mass (Liturgical Press, 2006), and The Hallelujah Highway: A History of the Catechumenate (LTP, 2000).
This paper addresses the building history of the Neonian (Orthodox) Baptistery in Ravenna focusing upon its internal decoration, chiefly mosaics, and incrustations. In this analysis, new dates for the different building phases are put forth. Secondly, this orthodox baptistery will be compared to the Arian one, with particular reference to the mosaic of the Apostles’ at the cupola in both of them and their different interpretations.
Arguing for a robust supernaturalism among liberal Protestants, Pamela Klassen traces a history of ritual experimentation among Anglican, Methodist, and United Church of Canada communities. Focusing particularly on rituals concerned with healing, broadly conceived, Klassen examines how liberal Protestants reconceived themselves and their religious others through experimenting with ritual practices drawn from Christian and non-Christian traditions and technological innovations. Her paper will be based on her forthcoming book, Healing Christians: Liberal Protestants and Pathologies of Modernity. For more information, see http://individual.utoronto.ca/pklassen