Liturgical Hermenuetics of Sacred Scripture - Marco Benini

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Résumé :
The purpose of this book is to explore what a liturgical approach to the Bible looks like and what hermeneutical implications this might have: How does the liturgy celebrate, understand and communicate Scripture? The starting point is Pope Benedict's affirmation that a faith-filled un-derstanding of sacred Scripture must always refer back to the liturgy (Verbum Domini 52).

The first part of the book (based on SC 24) provides significant exam-ples to demonstrate: The liturgical order of readings intertextually com-bines Old Testament and New Testament readings using manifold her-meneutical principles, specifically how the psalms show the wide range of interpretations the liturgy employs. Prayers are biblically inspired and help to appropriate Scripture personally. The hymns convey Scripture in a poetic way. Signs and actions such as foot-washing or the Ephphetha rite enact Scripture. The study considers the Mass, the sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours.

In the second part Benini systematically focuses on the various dimen-sions of liturgical hermeneutics of the Bible, which emerge from the first part. The study reflects the approaches the liturgy offers to Scripture and its liturgical reception. It explores theological aspects such as the unity of the two Testaments in Christ's paschal mystery or the anamnesis as a central category in both Scripture and liturgy. The liturgy does not un-derstand Scripture primarily as a document of the past, but celebrates it as a current and living Word of the Lord, as a medium of encounter with God: Scripture is sacramental.

Liturgical Hermeneutics of Sacred Scripture seeks to contribute not only to the comparison of the Roman, Ambrosian and Byzantine Rite regard-ing the Word of God, but most of all to the overall liturgical approach to Scripture. As such, it promotes an interdisciplinary dialogue of liturgical and biblical studies.

Biographie:
Marco Benini is Research Assistant Professor of Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at The Catholic University of America. Brian McNeil is an Augustinian Canon Regular and a parish priest in Munich. He has translated eighty books and numerous articles into English. Michael C. Witczak is an associate professor of liturgical studies at The Catholic University of America.