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Course 21 · Lesson 2.4

Liturgical renewal in the twentieth century

10 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 21 outline

Module 1: The Theology of Worship

  1. What liturgy is: the word, the idea and the debate
  2. Worship in the Old and New Testaments
  3. Praying and believing: how worship shapes doctrine and doctrine shapes worship
  4. Word, sacrament and sign across the traditions

Module 2: How Christian Liturgy Developed

  1. The earliest descriptions: the Didache, Justin Martyr and the early church orders
  2. The liturgical families of East and West
  3. The Reformation and the revision of worship
  4. Liturgical renewal in the twentieth century

Module 3: The Christian Year: Calendars, Feasts and Fasts

  1. Sunday, the week and the hours of the day
  2. Easter, Holy Week and the dispute over the date
  3. Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
  4. Lent, the Orthodox fasting seasons and Protestant approaches to fasting
  5. Saints days and the second cycle of the calendar

Module 4: Sacred Space and Sacred Images

  1. From house church to basilica: the development of church buildings
  2. The meaning of church buildings: altar, table, orientation and the Orthodox and Gothic examples
  3. Icons and the Incarnation: John of Damascus and the Second Council of Nicaea
  4. Images and the Reformation: Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican approaches

Module 5: Material Signs: Incense, Water, Oil and Blessings

  1. Incense: Scripture, temple worship and its use in the churches
  2. Water: baptism, the renewal of baptismal vows and holy water
  3. Oil: anointing of the sick, chrismation, confirmation and ordination
  4. Blessings: what the church means when it blesses a person, a house or an object
  5. Sacraments and sacramentals: the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant vocabulary

Module 6: Popular Piety and Devotional Practice

  1. What popular piety is, and why scholars take it seriously
  2. Pilgrimage, relics, medals and pious objects
  3. The rosary, the Stations of the Cross, litanies and akathists
  4. How the churches have regulated and corrected popular devotion

Module 7: Telling Tradition from Superstition

  1. What the theologians mean by superstition, and why the line is hard to draw
  2. A method: source, date, doctrine, authority and consequence
  3. Case studies: apocryphal legends, magical formulas and invented history
  4. Honesty and respect in judging other people’s devotion

All courses

Program / Course 21: Liturgical Theology / Lesson 2.4

What you will learn

  • Describe the aims of the Liturgical Movement and name its main stages.
  • Summarize what Vatican II taught about worship in Sacrosanctum Concilium and the changes that followed.
  • Describe parallel renewals in Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox and free-church worship.
  • Explain why liturgical renewal has also produced disagreement within the churches.

The big idea

In the twentieth century many churches tried to recover the sense that worship belongs to the whole people and not only to the clergy. This effort, called the Liturgical Movement, began in Catholic monasteries and spread to Protestant and Orthodox thought. It led to the Catholic reforms of Vatican II, to new Anglican and Lutheran service books, to a shared lectionary and to a fresh interest in the early church. It also produced disputes, over the use of Latin, the role of music and the place of tradition.

Key terms

Liturgical Movement
A movement from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to renew worship by returning to its sources and encouraging active participation by all the people.
Active participation
The goal, stated by Pope Pius X and developed at Vatican II, that the people take real part in the liturgy and not merely attend.
Sacrosanctum Concilium
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, promulgated by the Second Vatican Council in 1963.
Lectionary
A list of Scripture readings assigned to days and seasons of the year.
Revised Common Lectionary
A three-year cycle of readings published in 1992 and used by many Protestant churches and some Catholic and Anglican parishes.
Contemporary worship
A style of worship, common in evangelical and charismatic churches, that uses current music and informal structure.
Ressourcement
A French term for returning to the sources, especially the Fathers and early liturgies, as a way of renewing the present.

Background

In the nineteenth century a revival of interest in the Middle Ages and in monastic life led some Benedictines, such as Prosper Guéranger in France, to study and celebrate the liturgy with new care. In 1903 Pope Pius X urged that the people take active part in the church’s prayer, and in 1905 he encouraged frequent communion. In 1909 the Belgian Benedictine Lambert Beauduin spoke at a congress in Mechelen and is often credited with launching the movement for pastoral reform. German monasteries such as Maria Laach and writers such as Romano Guardini carried it further.

These developments had parallels outside Rome. Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed scholars studied the early church, and Orthodox theologians such as Alexander Schmemann worked to restore the centrality of the Eucharist in parish life.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Pius XII and the road to Vatican II

Pope Pius XII issued Mediator Dei in 1947, which affirmed the liturgy as the public worship of the church and corrected both neglect and excesses. In the 1950s he allowed evening Masses and relaxed the fast before communion, and in 1955 he reformed the rites of Holy Week. These were steps before the council.

Step 2: Vatican II and the new Missal

The Second Vatican Council issued Sacrosanctum Concilium in 1963. It called for the full, conscious and active participation of the faithful, greater use of Scripture, simplification of rites, a recovery of the homily and, within limits, use of the vernacular. It stated that Latin was to be preserved in the Latin rites, while allowing the local languages for readings, directions and some prayers. It also called for revision of all the liturgical books. Pope Paul VI promulgated the new Roman Missal in 1969, with the first edition issued in 1970. The Mass was reordered, the lectionary was greatly expanded to a three-year Sunday cycle, and the eucharistic prayers were multiplied.

Step 3: Responses and disputes in the Catholic Church

Many Catholics welcomed the changes as a recovery of the early church’s pattern. Others thought that implementation went beyond what the council intended, or that traditional beauty and reverence had been lost. In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI, in Summorum Pontificum, allowed wider use of the 1962 Missal as an extraordinary form. In 2021 Pope Francis, in Traditionis Custodes, restricted that use again. These documents show that the status of the older rite remains a matter of discussion and authority within the Catholic Church. Students should read the documents themselves and not rely on commentary from either side.

Step 4: Anglican, Lutheran and ecumenical renewal

Anglicans produced new books: the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer in 1979, the Church of England’s Alternative Service Book in 1980 and Common Worship in 2000. Lutherans in North America produced the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978. These books restored the Eucharist as the main Sunday service in many parishes, with a shared structure similar to that in Catholic worship. In 1982 the World Council of Churches issued the Lima text on baptism, Eucharist and ministry, which sought common ground. In 1992 the Revised Common Lectionary gave many churches a shared cycle of readings, so that Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and others often hear the same Scripture on the same Sunday.

Step 5: Orthodox renewal and contemporary worship

Orthodox theologians in the twentieth century, especially in the Russian emigration, emphasized the Eucharist as the center of the church’s life and worked for more frequent communion and wider understanding of the services. In another direction, the contemporary worship movement in evangelical and charismatic churches adopted modern music, projected texts and informal structure, with renewed attention to the emotions and to the Spirit. Many of these churches have since recovered older elements such as Scripture readings, creeds and the Lord’s Supper. Taizé, an ecumenical community in France, spread chant and silence across denominations. A person at home may draw on any of these resources, but the churches teach that the sacraments still belong to a gathered church.

  1. What problem was this reform meant to solve?
  2. Did it aim to recover an older practice, or to adapt to a new setting?
  3. Who authorized the change, and by what authority?
  4. What did the people gain, and what might they have lost?
  5. How do supporters and critics describe the results?
  6. Does the change affect what a person can do alone, or only in the assembly?

Examples

A shared reading

On a given Sunday, a Catholic parish, a Lutheran church and a Methodist church may all hear the same Gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary or the Catholic Lectionary, which share a similar three-year cycle. Each preaches according to its own tradition.

Church facing the people

After Vatican II, many Catholic churches placed the altar so that the priest faces the people. Some traditionalist Catholics criticize this, and the Orthodox and many Lutherans and Anglicans differ on the question. The debate concerns the meaning of orientation, which the course considers in module four.

Frequent communion

In many Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran parishes, Holy Communion moved from a few times a year to weekly. This change in practice was a result of renewal movements in each tradition.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Vatican II renewed the liturgy as the summit and source of the church’s life. Most Catholic teaching holds that the reforms are faithful to tradition, while there are continuing disagreements over implementation and the role of the older rite.

Orthodox

Orthodox churches did not reform their liturgy, but many theologians sought to renew parish life and understanding. Orthodox opinion varies about calendar, language and frequency of communion.

Anglican and Lutheran

New service books recovered the Eucharist as the central service and ordered the church year. Some Anglicans and Lutherans regret the loss of older texts, such as the language of the 1662 Prayer Book, and have kept them in use.

Evangelical and free-church

Many congregations changed their worship style to reach contemporary people, and defend it as faithful to Scripture’s call to sing a new song. Critics inside and outside these churches ask whether it neglects tradition and the sacraments.

Scholarly

Scholars note that the Liturgical Movement sometimes relied on an idealized picture of the early church, and that later research on sources, such as that of Paul Bradshaw, has complicated that picture.

Why it matters

The worship a student encounters today in nearly any historic church was shaped by this renewal. It explains why many churches share a lectionary, why altars face the people in many Catholic parishes and why some Christians feel that something was lost. It also shows that liturgical reform is not an ancient topic but a living one, and that people on all sides of it act from sincere conviction.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Vatican II abolished Latin.

Correction: The council said that the use of Latin was to be preserved in the Latin rites, while allowing the vernacular in many parts. In practice the vernacular became dominant, but the Latin Missal remains the official typical edition.

Misunderstanding: The Liturgical Movement was a modernizing break with tradition.

Correction: Its leaders mostly wanted to recover older practice and the sources of the church’s worship. Whether the results fit that aim is part of the debate.

Misunderstanding: Orthodox churches never change anything.

Correction: Orthodox churches have reformed practice in places, such as the frequency of communion and the use of local languages, while preserving the main liturgy.

Misunderstanding: Contemporary worship rejects tradition.

Correction: Many contemporary churches draw on Scripture, creeds and communion, and some deliberately recover ancient practices. Styles differ greatly.

Knowledge check

What was the main aim of the Liturgical Movement?

To renew worship by returning to its sources and by encouraging the full and active participation of all the people, not only the clergy. It began in Catholic monasteries and had parallels in other traditions.

What did Sacrosanctum Concilium teach?

It taught that the liturgy is the summit and source of the church’s life, called for active participation, a recovered homily, more Scripture, simpler rites and limited use of the vernacular, and ordered revision of the liturgical books.

Name two non-Catholic service books of the renewal.

Examples are the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church, the Alternative Service Book of 1980 and Common Worship of 2000 in the Church of England, and the Lutheran Book of Worship of 1978.

What are Summorum Pontificum and Traditionis Custodes?

They are papal documents from 2007 and 2021. The first expanded permission to celebrate the older Roman Missal, and the second restricted it again. Together they show continuing discussion about the older rite.

Think it through

  1. What is the difference between participation and attendance?
  2. Can a reform be faithful to tradition and still cause loss? How would you judge?
  3. Why might a shared lectionary help or hinder the unity of the churches?
  4. How should a church balance beauty, accessibility and reverence?

Independent assignment

A short report on one reform

In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words on one reform of the twentieth century, such as the Revised Common Lectionary, the Vatican II Missal, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer or the rise of contemporary worship. State what changed, why, who authorized it, who welcomed it and who objected, and what you could not verify. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study