Turning Toward the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical PrayerIntroduction by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) Turning towards the Lord presents an historical and theological argument for the traditional, common direction of liturgical prayer, known as "facing east", and is meant as a contribution to the contemporary debate about the Catholic liturgy. Lang, a member of the London Oratory, studies the direction of liturgical prayer from an historical, theological, and pastoral point of view. At a propitious moment, this book resumes a debate that, despite appearances to the contrary, has never really gone away, not even after the Second Vatican Council. Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come. In this situation, Lang's delightfully objective and wholly unpolemical book is a valuable guide. Without claiming to offer major new insights, Lang carefully presents the results of recent research and provides the material necessary for making an informed judgment. It is from such historical evidence that the author elicits the theological answers that he proposes. |
From inside the book
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... Spirit. The Congregation's response should thus make for a new, more relaxed discussion, in which we can search for the best ways of putting into practice the mystery of salvation. The quest is to be achieved, not by con- demning one ...
... Häußling, review of U.M. Lang, 'Conversi ad Dominum: Zu Gebetsostung, Stellung des Liturgen am Altar und Kirchenbau' ~FKTh 16 @2000#: 81–123!, ALW 42 ~2000!: 156. 4Translating ibid., 157. 5Cf. J. Ratzinger, The Spirit of the 15 ...
... .5 Reinhard Meßner refers to the 'eminentlyeschatologicalmeaning'oforientationatprayer;itdirects Christian. 4Translating ibid., 157. 5Cf. J. Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, trans. J. 16 Turning towards the Lord Turning to the Lord.
... Spirit of the Liturgy, trans. J. Saward ~San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000!, 12–23. 6Cf. R. Meßner, Einführung in die Liturgiewissenschaft, UTB 2173 ~Paderborn:Schöningh, 2001!, 198; see now also R. Meßner, 'Gebetsrichtung, Altar und ...
... Spirit of the Liturgy, Pierre-Marie Gy also talks about the direction of liturgical prayer. His comments, however, reflect neither the current state of historical research nor the present theological debate: Gy, 'L'Esprit de la liturgie ...