" Renewing the Liturgical Theology of Alexander Schmemann "

2001

Religions, 2016

The émigré Russian priest and theologian Alexander Schmemann (1921-1983) spent most of his career as a faculty member and dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, not far from New York City. For over 30 years, in lectures, teaching and numerous publications, he presented the distinctive vision of the Eastern Church, mostly unknown to Western Christians, in which the church's liturgy was the primary source not only of its theology but of all other aspects of its life. I offer an overview of his work, with analysis and criticism and an assessment of his continuing significance.

The émigré Russian priest and theologian Alexander Schmemann (1921–1983) spent most of his career as a faculty member and dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, not far from New York City. For over 30 years, in lectures, teaching and numerous publications, he presented the distinctive vision of the Eastern Church, mostly unknown to Western Christians, in which the church's liturgy was the primary source not only of its theology but of all other aspects of its life. I offer an overview of his work, with analysis and criticism and an assessment of his continuing significance.

Alexander Schmemann is widely recognized as systemizing the discipline of 'Liturgical Theology.' However, he himself considered his efforts to improve the liturgical celebrations of the Orthodox Churches of North America to be the main achievement of his career. This article analyzes Schmemann's work, focusing in particular on his contribution to practical liturgical renewal, his turbulent relationship with academic theology and his view of Roman Catholic liturgy. Then the argument is advanced that today, 40 years after Vatican II and in the wake of the external renewal of the official liturgical books, Catholics are in a better position to benefit from Schmemann's life work.

Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata, 2007

2011

This dissertation is a critical study of the paradigm of Liturgical Theology. Focus in this systematic inquiry has been on the Russian school with the focal point in the works of Alexander Schmeman ...

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

Contribution: The present article aims to discuss the whole problematisation related to the impact of secularism on orthodoxy and to present the highly topical solutions that Father Alexander Schmemann proposed for the survival of the Christian Orthodox ethos in the novel conditions of the postmodern world.

2013

European Journal of Theology, 2014

In recent decades, an increasing number of theologians have discussed the consequences of the Western world’s transition from an era of Christendom to an era of post-Christendom. This transition implies that the Christian church in Western society now appears as a distinct people with a distinct way of life and viewing the world. This article demonstrates the significance of liturgy to the life of the church in a post-Christendom society by focusing on four central aspects of Christian liturgy, namely gathering, sermon, sacrament and sending, and thus contributes to a theological understanding of the church’s liturgical life in the modern world.