Search results for ""author gerard lukken""

The author of this book, Gerard Lukken, has always believed that liturgy is not something which is unchangeable or sacrosanct, something to be imposed 'from above'; rather he believes that it must gain shape and content from the situation in which believers find themselves. This involvement is reflected in the hundreds of publications which have flowed from his pen. Lukken's extensive writings offer not only an exciting reflection on the challenges (such as secularization and the decrease in church-going) confronting church and believers, but also on the problems they have faced in celebrating their faith in recent decades. Moreover, his work represents a model for methodological renewal. The key concepts in his theological approach and his evaluation are 'anthropology' and 'semiotics'. These two aspects have left their marks on the organisation of this book which is a selective compilation drawn from his earlier publications. This collection consists of nineteen studies which have lost nothing of their topicality and most of which are now being translated into English, French or German for the first time. By crossing the frontier of language in such a way the editors wish not only to honour a leading specialist in liturgy but also to contribute to academic research into liturgy throughout the world. Gerard Lukken (1933) studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Haaren (Noord-Brabant), the Pontificia Universita in Rome, and the Institut Superieur de Liturgie in Paris. He was professor of liturgy and sacramental theology (from 1967) and director of the Liturgical Institute (from 1992) at the Theological Faculty of Tilburg until his retirement in 1994.

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Rituals are closely linked with culture. This book is a consideration of Christian ritual in our culture. It was originally written particularly with an eye to the ritual developments in The Netherlands, which can be considered as representative for our Western European culture. It has been revised and expanded for the English edition. As in other European countries, in the 1960s Dutch society witnessed a serious crisis in ritual. The situation was paradoxical. While, under the influence of the Second Vatican Council and the Liturgical Movement, in the Catholic churches there was a great creativity with regard to ritual, ritual was gradually disappearing from the society at large, and participation in Christian ritual was rapidly draining away. A religious void arose. However, since then the situation has changed fundamentally. Rituals were rediscovered in the 1990s, indeed to such an extent that one can now speak of 'rituals in abundance'. In this book the author sketches out the directions and sets out signposts for where ritual is going in contemporary culture. He traces the peculiar characteristics of ritual, indicates what shifts have taken place, and tries to further define the identity of various rituals. In doing this, he concentrates on the question of the place of Christian ritual in our culture. How is Christian ritual connected with the many rites in our culture? What new shape is it taking on in our culture? In the midst of the other rites, what is the peculiar identity of Christian ritual? In this book the accent is on the anthropological approach to Christian ritual: it works from the bottom up. The book seeks answers to the questions being asked in the discipline of ritual studies, which particularly since the second half of the 1980s has arisen as an important realm or stage on which different disciplines studying ritual come together.

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In recent decades semiotics has succeeded in establishing itself as a discipline with international recognition. As a discipline specifically devoted to the study of signs and sign systems, it is relevant to the discipline of theology, working as it does with verbal and non-verbal signs. Since 1976 Semanet, a Dutch study group, has applied Greimassian semiotics to linguistic theological statements. More recently, Gerard Lukken undertook the analysis of church buildings. It was at that stage that Mark Searle joint Semanet during a sabbatical leave. He applied the analytical method to a particular church: SS. Peter and Paul in Tilburg, which is of interest both as a representative modern church and as a particularly intruiging object for semiotic analysis. The book shows how Greimassian semiotic theory as it relates to architecture was developed into a usable method for analysing particular church buildings and then demonstrates how such an analysis might be conducted. The book contains numerous full color reproductions. Gerard Lukken (1933) is professor of liturgy and sacramental theology and director of the Liturgical Institute at the Theological Faculty of Tilburg. He studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Haaren, the Pontificia Universita Gregoriana in Rome, and the Institut Superieur de Liturgie in Paris. Mark Searle (1941-1992) was associated professor of pastoral liturgy at the Notre Dame University in Notre Dame (Indiana, USA). He studied at the Franciscan House of Studies in East Bergholt (United Kingdom), the Institut Superieur de Liturgie in Paris, the Liturgisches Institut in Trier and the Pontificio Ateneo di Sant'Antonio in Rome.

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