Liturgical Spirituality

Stephen Burns is Associate Professor of Liturgical Theology and the Study of Anglicanism at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a priest in the orders of the Church of England, who studied theology at the universities of Durham (BA, MA, PhD) and Cambridge (MLitt), specializing in sacramental and liturgical theology.

"Much of the vast literature on Christian spirituality has taken as its focus the individual Christian’s private modes of prayer. This collection study of Christian spirituality places the primary focus of that spirituality in the more appropriate context of Christian liturgical prayer, that is, in the corporate forms of the spirituality that is embodied when Christians gather for prayer together using the structured forms of the liturgy. The renewed emphasis on ecclesiology among Christian writers suggests that this corporate spirituality offers the natural starting point for any discussion of the Christian life of prayer. This book is a treasury of fresh insight into the fundamental dimensions of liturgical prayer. It merits a wide audience among laity and clergy who seek to deepen their insight into the common ground of a corporate liturgical spirituality."—Louis Weil, Hodges-Haynes Professor Emeritus of Liturgics, The Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California"Only when we gather as God's holy assembly do we truly discover who we are. In these essays, Stephen Burns has brought together a compelling company of voices recalling us to the primacy of spiritual formation through the liturgy and the sacramental life. When we gather, give thanks and offer ourselves anew at the table of God's feast, we come to see that when words fail us, actions speak. This book is a rich and varied resource spurring us on to explore more deeply the power of liturgical worship to engage, inspire and transform."—The Very Revd Richard Giles, formerly Dean of Philadelphia Cathedral, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"Would that laity and clergy alike would take this book to heart! Rich in anecdote and acute memories of lived experience brought to bear on understanding how Christians should engage with the week-by-week, year-by year worship of God in differing contexts across the globe, each of the essays is to be savoured, enjoyed, and put into practice with transformed communities in view!"—Ann Loades, Professor Emerita of Divinity, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Durham, and Honorary Professor of Divinity, University of St Andrews, UK