Welcoming Finitude
Toward a Phenomenology of Orthodox Liturgy
This book can be opened with
Gschwandtner writes with a welcome transparency and obvious wellspring of knowledge that runs extremely deep. . . . [S]cholars of whatever sort will find food for thought in Gschwandtner’s work and an addition to the subfield of the phenomenology of religion that is ready for comparison with other studies that either do not overtly cover liturgical matters or do so from a differing tradition.
This book is a boon for liturgical theologians who wish to ground their analysis more rigorously within the lived experience of liturgical ritual. It is also a superb survey and critique of the discourse on liturgy in contemporary French phenomenology.
This is a brilliant book. One does not usually begin a book review with such a blunt statement, but that is the most significant point of this review. . . The work’s methodological strength is the willingness to grapple with complexities and a refusal of simplistic either/or pronouncements. The result is a rich and nuanced phenomenological description of Orthodox liturgy.—Tamsin Jones, Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies
Preface | ix
Acknowledgments | xxi
Introduction | 1
1 Temporality | 31
2 Spatiality | 57
3 Corporeality | 80
4 Sensoriality | 101
5 Affectivity | 125
6 Community | 146
7 Intentionality | 167
Conclusion | 189
Notes | 205
Bibliography | 275
Index | 299
