Next term at Davenant Hall, starting the week of April 8, I am teaching “Early Christian Worship: Ritual and Space in the Ancient Church“. Registration ends in two days, on Good Friday, March 29! And I realise that I’ve not really given you much of a taste here, although I’ve referred to it a few times. Now, if you’re into videos, my YouTube video plugging the course is at the bottom of this post.
Worship is central to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, the Christ. It defines who we are, and it transforms us as well. But what is worship? Latreia? Proskynesis? Doulia? Servitus? Cultus? Adoratio? Veneratio? What do these Latin and Greek terms signify? How do they map onto what we do? These are some of the grounding questions we’ll approach in this course.
One thing we need to realise regarding “worship” is that the words our early modern forebears rendered as worship are words wherein we do things. Worship isn’t just some sort of internal state or positioning — although the inner person matters at worship. It involves the body of the worshipper. Bowing. Kissing. Sacrificing. Eating. Drinking. Lifting holy hands. Raising eyes heavenward. Dancing. Singing.
And all of these embodied realities take place in space. In the Temple. In synagogues. In houses, upper rooms, workshops. Basilicas. Martyr shrines.
In this course, then, besides examining descriptions of services and liturgical texts and the teaching of the ancient church on prayer and the sacraments (all the things you’d expect from a good Anglican like me!), I’m bringing in archaeology and architecture and asking about how ritual actions and ritual space are part of the picture.
My hope is to give us a holistic picture of whatever it is early Christian worship was.
And my hope for students is to help them worship with greater reverence, and if they lead or help plan worship, find wisdom for today in the teachings and practices of the ancients. Register today!
Classically Christian 