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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... Early Church 35 1. Facing East: The Christian Direction of Prayer 35 2. The Direction of Prayer and the Position of the Celebrant at the Altar 61 3. Liturgy and Church Architecture 71 III The Common Direction of Liturgical Prayer: Its ...
... Christian and that he has every reason to turn to God with all his fellow-Christians of the congregation and to say ... early Church that should be the norm for our age. Second, it is maintained that the 'active participation' of the ...
... Early Church 1. Facing East: The Christian Direction of Prayer In most major religions, the position taken in prayer and the layout of holy places are determined by a 'sacred ... Early Church Facing East: The Christian Direction Prayer.
... early Christians defined their identity through a critical discernment of their pagan surroundings in the Roman Empire. If we attempt to understand the Christian idea of sacred direction, it is not sufficient to look at the context of ...
... early date for the Christian community to pray towards the Mount of Olives. Furthermore, owing to the topography of Jerusalem, Jews, when not within the Temple precincts, would also have turned towards the east or north-east, that is to ...