Liturgical Aesthetics

The aesthetic dimensions of Christian worship encompass not only written liturgies and rubrics, but also the ways in which the liturgy is brought to life. This article addresses the rich and varied ways that these aesthetic dimensions are realized, including the liturgical expressions of time and space, the visual and the aural, the cognitive and emotional, the eternal and the culture-bound. The term aesthetics derives from a Greek root meaning "of or pertaining to things perceptible by the senses, things material (as opposed to things thinkable or immaterial)" (O. E. D. ). Since the 18th century the term has come to designate the theory and interpretation of the beautiful in art and in nature. Liturgical aesthetics comprehends both the modern and classical meanings of the term. Thus the scope of this article includes the concept of beauty in relation to prayer and ritual as well as reflection on the sensible signs and various "languages" of worship such as time, space, sound and sil…