January 29, 2014

The Eucharistic Celebration of the Didache: A Jewish Apocalyptic Messianic Banquet

by Rev. Dr. Harold E. Shepherd (Anglican Archdioceses of Toronto)

A joint session with the TST Patristics Seminar.

November 20, 2013

The unforgiven: Judaism’s struggle with forgiveness and the implications for liturgical expression

by Rabbi Steven Saltzman (Adath Israel Congregation)

Unlike Christianity and Islam, religions with well defined notions of forgiveness, Judaism lives with an excruciating ambivalence about the real possibilities of forgiveness. The very definition of forgiveness is debated in biblical and rabbinic sources and Jews today in North America struggle to understand the real possibilities of forgiveness both in daily life and in national terms especially with regard to the Shoah. This tension between forgiveness as a real possibility on the one hand and forgiveness as an impossibility on the other hand informs our liturgy which on a daily basis avoids the polar extremes in favour of a practical approach to forgiveness.  We will explore some of these issues in the seminar.
 
Rabbi Steven Saltzman serves as a Senior Rabbi of Adath Israel Congregation. He holds a doctorate in Hebrew literature from JTS and is a Fellow at both the Shalom Hartman Institute and Harvard Divinity School.

October 30, 2013

Women and the Diaconate

Biblical & Patristic Perspective

by Rev. Marcos Ramos O.P., B.A., M.A., M.Div, Th.M., Ph.D. cand. (St. Michael’s College) and Ramana Konantz M.T.S. cand. (St. Michael’s College)

The issue of the ordination of women as deacons has again come to the fore in the theological and liturgical reflection of several Christian denominations. For this conversation to be fruitful, it is necessary to be mindful of the history of the Christian tradition and the undeniable evidence of the existence of women deacons in both the Eastern and Western churches until the twelfth century. This presentation will give a brief overview of scriptural references to women deacons, the existence, ministry and ordination rites of women deacons in the Eastern and Western Churches, and reasons for the disappearance of the official ministry of women deacons in the Middle Ages.

Rev. Marcos RAmos, BA, MA, M.Div, is a doctoral candidate at St. Michael's College and Dominican Friar, superior of the Dominicans’ Aquinas House in Toronto. 
Ramand Konataz. is M.T.S. candidate at St. Michael's College. Ramana did her thesis on women and the diaconate, specifically on the figure of the "apostle" Junia in Romans.

October 2, 2013

The Flash Mob as Postmodern Ritual: Implications for Liturgy

by Rev. Jennifer Weetman, BA, MDiv, STM  (Doctoral Student in Homiletics, Emmanuel College)

Is ritual in postmodernity dead? Have examples of ritual been reduced to mere ritualized behavior, like the rush hour commute, or limited to explicitly religious ritual like liturgy? Does ritual itself have the ability to carry any weight, any depth of meaning and affective impact, in a secular postmodern context? And, if so, what can we learn from it that translates into faithful and effective liturgical ritual? Join us, as we explore these questions (and more!) through the lens of the flash mob.

Rev. Jennifer Weetman, BA, MDiv, STM, is a doctoral student in homiletics at Emmanuel College and a Lutheran (ELCA) pastor. Following theological studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, she served congregations in New Jersey, Georgia and California. She was the winner of the national David H. C. Read Preacher/Scholar Award, and wrote her STM thesis on biblical hermeneutics, preaching, and the ways in which sermon audiences hear pericope texts in worship. 

March 13, 2013

The setting of Asian hymns in recent American hymnals by Swee Hong Lim

by Dr. Swee Hong Lim,  (Deer Park Assistant Professor of Sacred Music Director of Master of Sacred Music, Emmanuel College)

This examination of the place of Asian hymns in US-based hymnals published in the last few years will include a discussion of the trends of hymn selection and an exploration of implications, such as the relationship between the lingua franca of the United States and the ethnic language of the hymns, and the lack of representation of certain ethnic groups.

January 30, 2013

Abbot Hildemar and Benedictine Liturgy in the Ninth Century

by Jesse D. Billett - A.B., M.Phil., Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College)

The liturgical forms that dominated in the Western Church down to the Reformation (and which survive today in the traditional liturgies still approved for use in the Catholic Church) were largely the result of a creative fusion of texts and customs that originated separately in either Rome or Frankish Gaul, a fusion effected partly as a result of the ecclesiastical policies of the early Carolingian kings in the eighth and ninth centuries.  Among the fruits of the Frankish liturgical reforms was a distinctively "monastic" way of performing the liturgy -- especially the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours).  One of the most valuable sources on the creation of this Frankish Benedictine liturgy is a commentary on the rule of St. Benedict by a Frankish monk, Hildemar, written in the mid-ninth-century for students at the abbey of San Pietro al Monte in Civate, near Milan -- a text with a complex transmission history that has never been properly edited, but which is in process of receiving a collaborative translation.  Hildemar can write with grammatical pedantry (his preferred tone), polemical ferocity, or spiritual ecstasy, and his commentary gives us a glimpse of a controversy between Frankish monks about what it meant to follow the Rule of St. Benedict faithfully.  A traditionalist party favoured continuity with earlier customs (believed to be Roman) that they shared with cathedral canons and other diocesan clergy.  An advanced reforming party (of which Hildemar is a representative), urged strict conformity with the Rule in even minor liturgical details.  The reformers ultimately prevailed, first in the Frankish kingdoms, and later throughout Western Europe.mment on this new history and the related commentary.

September 26, 2012

More Abundant and Varied: Looking at the Links between two Twentieth Century Lectionaries

by Dr. Fred Graham, PhD.  (Associate Professor Emeritus - Faculty of Theology - Emmanuel College of Victoria University)

The dates 1963 and 1978 point to significant turning points in congregational life for Roman Catholic as well as for Protestant and Reformed Churches. In 1963, the Second Vatican Council convened and a year later announced the preparation of a new lectionary containing “more abundant, varied, and appropriate reading of the sacred scriptures.” Reformed and Protestant bodies soon picked up the idea, and in 1978 convened an ecumenical and international consultation in Washington to emulate the success of the Ordo Lectionum Missae adopted by Roman Catholics. The result was the Common Lectionary (1983) and the Revised Common Lectionary (1992). Dr. Fred Graham was a member of the editorial committee (1988-92) for the RCL, and is a past chair of the Consultation on Common Texts who published it. His new account of why it looks the way it does is now available from Fortress Press. He will comment on this new history and the related commentary.

November 7, 2012

An Examination of Luther's Taufbüchlein and Deutsche Messe: Liturgical Reform in Moderation

by Rev. C. Pierson Shaw, Jr., BS, MDiv, STM, STL PhD Student  (Faculty of Theology - St. Michael’s College)

Some of the most enduring elements of the liturgical reform are preserved both in Martin Luther’s Baptismal rite, published in 1523 with a revision published in 1526, and the German translation of the Mass or the Deutsche Messe of 1526. While these liturgies have themselves undergone significant reform over the past five centuries, much of the liturgical and theological thinking which inspired their development by the Augustinian Wittenberg Reformer have profoundly impacted baptismal and Eucharistic Liturgies and practice across the Traditions of the Western Church. While Luther redacted these liturgies from 16th medieval forms, none the less, the revisions show a pattern of “reform in moderation”, more common to the Wittenberg theologians. In other words, while these liturgies reveal a solidly evangelical character, they remain at the same time strongly catholic.

November 28, 2012

Surprises in a Ukrainian Euchology: Wedding Rites in a 16th-century Trebnyk from the Stefanyk Library in Lviv

by Prof. Rev. Peter Galadza, PhD.  ( Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University - Ottawa)

Prof. Galadza will analyze the wedding rite found in a 16th-century Western Ukrainian euchology. Especially from the perspective of present-day usage, the rite is significantly different, with several fascinating features. The euchology (trebnyk) under consideration is the first in a series of manuscripts that have been transcribed for the Slavonic-English Analytical Catalogue of Liturgical Manuscripts in Ukrainian Repositories (SEACLMUR) compiled by Prof. Galadza, and supported by a major SSHRC grant.

Prof. Peter Galadza is Kule Family Professor of Liturgy at the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, Saint Paul University, Ottawa.

March 14, 2012

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)

The rites of baptism and marriage are often celebrated within the context of Eucharistic liturgies. Since Vatican II, a frequent feature of Roman Catholic structures for these rites has been the compression of multiple moments into a single moment, and the placement of the whole rite after the homily. This presentation will critically examine the structure of these rites in Sunday Eucharist, occasional celebrations, and the Easter Vigil, in comparison with historical precedents, and assess the ritual effectiveness of different structures.

February 29, 2012

The Ladder of a Soul's Ascent: the Structure and Use of Liturgical Music in the Coptic Orthodox Church

by Bishoy Dawood, Hon. B.A., MTS, PhD student in the Faculty of Theology (St. Michael’s College)

In the three surviving liturgies of the Coptic Orthodox Church, namely the Anaphoras of St. Basil, St. Gregory, and St. Cyril, the entire liturgical service is chanted, and the majority of hymns for each part of those liturgies have been handed down from cantor to disciple as an oral tradition for centuries. While the Coptic Church did pray other Anaphora’s in the past, the hymns for those Anaphora’s did not survive, and it is only because the hymns did not survive that those liturgies are no longer prayed in the Coptic Church, even if the texts of those liturgies exist. This demonstrates the fact that in the Coptic Church, liturgical music is essential for liturgical prayer -- and even the survival of the liturgies themselves.

In this presentation, Dawood will present some pieces of the liturgical hymns of the Anaphora of St. Basil, and using those pieces as examples, he will argue that the music of the Anaphora is designed in such a way as to resemble the act of raising a sacrificial offering of praise. The hymnology, he will argue, takes the souls of the persons praying the liturgy up a ladder, allowing the priests, deacons, and congregation to ascend higher in musical scales until they all together work their way to heights of praise before partaking of communion.

The hymns used in this presentation will be from the CD production of: “The Rite and Hymns of the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil” by the Heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church choir, available in the link below: 

http://www.copticheritage.org/productions/the_rite_and_hymns_of_the_liturgy_of_saint_basil

January 11, 2012

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the Villancico: Poetry at the service of liturgy in seventeenth century Mexico

by Rev. Marcos Ramos, O.P., B.A., M.A., MDiv, ThM, PhD. cand. (St. Michael’s College)

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.

This presentation will concentrate on Sor Juana's villancicos (carols), a literary form very popular in the New Spain and used in the Church as a didactic tool to evangelize through poetry and music. We will present different examples of Sor Juana's villancicos in order to analyze her theology and her views about the Christian tradition as well as her views as a woman and a Mexican. The discussion about Sor Juana's works will also be related to the importance of art in liturgy and the unique and fascinating poetry and music of colonial Latin America. 

September 21, 2011

The Dangers of Moral Certitude and the Challenge to Prayer

by Prof. Rav Roy D. Tanenbaum (The Canadian Yeshiva & Rabbinical School)

"Most of the greatest evil that man has inflicted upon man comes through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false" (Bertrand Russell, "Ideas that Have Harmed Mankind" in Unpopular Essays [1950], p. 149).

Faith without doubt leads to fanaticism (too often anyway). Yet doubt without faith leads to nihilism. And between these two great poles, where is there room to pray? One can masquerade before others, but not before the Holy One whose seal is truth. Neither can one pray as if. So, here, in a nutshell, is one of the looming liturgical issues of the day, the theo-practical issue of prayer in our houses of worship.

In this session, we will go to some of the traditional Jewish liturgy itself for its own internal response.

Rav Roy D. Tanenbaum, Rosh HaYeshiva (President & Vice-Chancellor) and Bible Faculty, has been the force behind the conceptualization and development of the Canadian Yeshiva. Currently serving the Rabbinical Assembly as Dean of its School for Shamashim, he is also past president of the Rabbinical Assembly, Canadian Region. Rav Tanenbaum maintains a scholarly interest in the structure of the Hebrew Bible and the development of Jewish law. He has served on the faculty of the University of Miami in Ohio and Mount Royal College in Calgary. In 2009, the rav retired from Beth Tzedec Congregation where he served as Rosh Yeshiva of the Life-Long Learning Centre and as responding rav for the "Kosher Korner," completing 40 years in the pulpit. With many articles to his credit, in 1998, the University of Calgary Press published his book, Prisoner 88—The Man in Stripes, and his commentary on the Shabbat Morning Service, Rinat Dodim, A Song of Lovers, graces the pews in many synagogues. The rav studied in Yeshivat ITRI and Yeshivat Etz Chaim in Jerusalem. He has received numerous honours for his work in the community, including two doctorates. AB, Cornell University; MAHL and s'mikha.

October 12, 2011

The Sacramentality of Preaching

by Prof. Rev. Dr. Paul Scott Wilson (Emmanuel College)

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.

Rev. Dr. Paul Scott Wilson is Professor of Homiletics at Emmanuel College, an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada and a past president of the Academy of Homiletics. A world-renowned scholar in the theology, theory and practice of preaching, his most recent publications include Setting Words on Fire (2008), The Practice of Preaching (1995, 2007), Preaching and Homiletical Theory (2004), and The Four Pages of the Sermon (1999). He was the general editor of The New Interpreter’s Handbook of Preaching, which was selected by Preaching magazine as the 2010 Preaching Book of the Year. 

November 30, 2011

Ritual Dimensions of The Gospel of Truth

by Dora Kritzmanic, M.Div., M.A., B.Mus., Phd student (St Michael's College)

The Gospel of Truth (Codex Jung f.VIII^v – XVI^v / f.XIX^r-XXII^r) from the Nag Hammadi find is a Coptic text representing a 2^nd century Valentinian document.  Mostly overlooked by studies on the ritual practices of the heterodox communities of the first centuries of Early Christianity, nevertheless the text contains several clues regarding its unique genre and ritual setting.  A survey of these clues, along with the consideration of internal and external evidence, points beyond the use of metaphoric language suggesting instead an organic connection between The Gospel of Truth and a specific Christian Gnostic practice, the ritual of initiation.

March 30, 2011

The Cross and Eucharistic Sacrifice: 

An Ecumenical Attempt

by Brett Salkeld, Thd student (Regis College)

Agreement regarding Christ's Eucharistic Presence has been one of the great victories of the ecumenical movement.  The idea of Eucharist as sacrifice, however, has proved much more intransigent.  The presentation plans to look at the cross, its relationship to the Old Testament cult and the Christian Eucharist, in the hope of finding new ways forward on this question.  Do certain soteriologies make the idea of Eucharistic sacrifice more or less accessible?  Do some distort its meaning, while other are more amenable?  What do the prophets critiques of temple worship tell us about Christ's sacrifice?  How does the understanding of the Church as Christ's body open up our understanding?  These and other questions will be investigated and input from various ecumenical partners sought.

February 16, 2011

Oremus et pro perfidis judaeis

On Anti-Semitism, Israel, and the People of God in Christian Liturgies 

by Prof. Pablo Argárate Dr. phil., Dr. theol. (Tübingen) (St. Michael’s College)

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.

January 19, 2011

Back to the Future: Recreating Historic Liturgies

by Douglas Cowling, MA - Musical Dramaturge for the Tallis Choir

Many early music ensembles now recreate the musical sequence of historic liturgies. Concert audiences can hear the masterpieces of Western music in the context for which they were written. But what do these experiments tell liturgists about the cultural forces which gave liturgies their particular shape at a particular moment in history?  This illustrated seminar will discuss recent concert reconstructions of two contrasting liturgies: a Venetian high mass from 1605 with the music of Gabrieli, and a festival Lutheran mass from 1745 Leipzig with the music of J.S. Bach. The results challenge many assumptions about Counter-Reformation and Lutheran worship.

Douglas Cowling is a writer, musician and educator in Toronto who has written on the relationship between medieval liturgy and English religious drama. He is the co-author of Sharing the Banquet: Liturgical Renewal in Your Parish and a contributor to Let Us Keep the Feast. He edited two collections of global music for liturgical use in Let Us Make Music Together, and his own music has been published by CHC in the USA. His children’s symphony show, Tchaikovsky Discovers America was recently performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is Director of Music at St. Philip’s Church, Etobicoke, and musical dramaturge for the Tallis Choir of Toronto.