Survey of the history of Christian rites in Eastern and Western traditions, from New Testament to the present using primary texts. Basic introduction to the methodologies of liturgical studies and to disciplines related to the study of worship.

This course examines the reciprocal relationship between liturgy and justice. In addition to drawing from historically influential Christian sources, the class will engage contemporary theory and practice related to understandings of justice and liturgical celebration. In doing so, the course helps students discern and articulate their own theological frameworks for approaching justice liturgically, and for practicing liturgy justly. Students will engage course material both through methods of theological ethics and of liturgical/sacramental theology.

The origins of rites of initiation and eucharist, East and West, and their historical development. Theological and doctrinal perspectives. Examination of the postconciliar Roman rite and its attendant documents, with some treatment of other Christian traditions. Issues in contemporary pastoral practice.

This course invites students to consider liturgical worship as font and summit of the Christian life as they develop skills in planning and preparing liturgical celebrations. Students will consider the role of liturgical worship in faith formation and catechesis following the concept of lex orandi, lex credendi, and attend to the significant ways in which liturgical worship forms and prepares Christians to embody the Church’s social teaching.

Elements in liturgy such as human senses, space, visuals, and bodily gestures shape the believer’s participation in the liturgy and expression of faith. This course examines the ways in which liturgical worship is an aesthetic way of praying by examining various perspectives and examples from theological aesthetics, liturgical studies, and history of art and architecture.

Introductory study of the nature of ritual, and the place of sacraments and rituals in the life journey of the Christian. Treatment of the rites of vocation (marriage, religious profession and holy orders), healing (reconciliation, anointing of the sick), and burial of the dead.

This course studies the theology, history, and practice of the Liturgical Year as the unfolding of salvation history in the Christian life. Students will consider how the feasts and seasons of the Church's year coincide with Christian prayer, devotional practices, and the lectionary cycles, and discuss practical dimensions of drawing upon the Liturgical Year as source for catechesis and spiritual development in pastoral settings

This course examines contemporary methods and concepts that ground liturgical studies and practice. Students will engage contemporary theories and phenomena related to liturgy and aesthetics, ultimately working to discern and synthesize the operative frameworks within which their own approaches to liturgical life unfold. To this end, the course helps students to critically approach—from a liturgical perspective—theological aesthetics, ritual studies, post- and decolonial insights related to liturgy, methodological issues related to liturgical reform, and other contemporary developments in the field.

The Liturgy of the Hours historically and theologically considered. An analysis of the origins and evolution of the Office in the patristic and medieval periods. Study of the reformed Roman Liturgy of the Hours and of daily prayer in other traditions.

The roots of Christian worship in symbol, language, and social dynamics. Theological reflection on the sacramental life in the Church. Contemporary approaches to a theology of sacrament especially in relation to Trinitarian, theology, Christology, Pneumatology, Christian anthropology, and ecclesiology. Cross-listed with DOCT 424.

Training in all aspects of liturgical presiding for those will lead worship as priests and deacons, including study of rubrics and directives in the relevant official documents. Use of gesture and voice to relate well to the assembly and to other liturgical ministers. Training in singing the ministerial chants in the liturgical books. For future priests, focus on celebrating Mass. For future deacons, focus on their role at Mass, as well as presiding at Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest and other rites such as baptism. For non-ordination candidates, Sunday Celebrations in Absence of a Priest, and other rites such as funeral vigils. Prerequisite: Introduction to Pastoral Liturgy.

Fundamental treatment of the nature of the liturgical assembly and the theological basis for sung congregational participation. Introduction to resources for all genres of congregational song – dialogues and chants; psalms, with emphasis on responsorial psalmody; service music and Mass settings; and hymns and songs, including historical survey of repertoire from various cultures. Principles of theological and liturgical appraisal of congregational repertoire.

Introduction to the interrelationship between liturgy, art and architecture. Exploration of how artists, architects and liturgists think about the worshiping community and its spaces from the perspective of their fields. Treatment of architectural process and tools, basic visual approaches, media and kinds of art found in a church, and basic knowledge of ritual space; also the church community and its traditions. Introduction to the Analysis Project in which a space is described by a participant-observer, involving analysis of a community, its worship, its existing space, ritual needs, and assessment of possibilities for revision.

Study of official church documents on the building and renovating of churches and chapels. Practical questions such as beginning the building/renovation project; engaging the entire congregation in the process from beginning to completion; finding competent architects and artists and working with them; commissioning art works; creating furnishings and appointment; attending to diversity in the community and its appropriate expression in art and architecture; accessibility; rituals for leave-taking of old spaces and dedication and blessing new and renovated spaces. Students will be able to prepare proposals for consultancy with a variety of communities.

Study of the history of the church’s use of art liturgically and for the sake of evangelization, including the church’s embrace of the arts as it emerged from a Jewish aniconic tradition; how the relationship between the church and art evolved over the centuries; the different forms of sacred art; the possible differences between sacred art, liturgical art and devotional art; and implications for the establishment and maintenance of art collections. Cross Listed with PTHM 441.

Sacred Architecture. Historical overview of sacred architecture with attention to the theology and practice of the worshipping community. Communalities between sacred architecture from varied faith traditions, with emphasis on the unique aspects of Christian architecture. Acoustics and lighting in relationship to their impact on the symbolic and practical functioning of a building. Varieties of American Christian religious architecture as reflections of traditions, exploring commonalities and differences. Cross listed with PTHM 443.

Independent, directed reading and research with weekly meetings with professor in one of three areas: historical liturgical sources; liturgical movement and liturgical renewal; art and architecture in worship.

This course examines the cultural contexts and spiritual landscapes in which rural liturgy and ministry take place. Course material focuses on methods for understanding, engaging with, and practicing ministry and liturgy in ethnographically rural areas (most especially in the United States). In particular, the course studies the social makeup of rural contexts as moral communities, including recent cultural and demographic shifts to which churches are responding. The course then moves to methods for understanding and ministering both liturgically and pastorally in rural contexts, engaging insights from moral psychology, contemporary scholarship in liturgical and pastoral theologies as they relate to rural ministry, and case studies in rural liturgical/ministerial practice. Cross listed PTHM 468H / LTGY 468C

Students study musical and liturgical theology, including the history of liturgical music; official documents; issues, problems, and positions in liturgical music practice; worship aid evaluation; presentation of music/liturgy plans. This course may be repeated for different topics/content with instructor’s permission.