Ritualized Faith

Essays on the Philosophy of Liturgy

Terence Cuneo

Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology

Offers philosophical explorations of liturgy and focuses on the Christian East to offer rich descriptions and draw out their implications.
Considers the multi-sensory character of the Eastern liturgies and works through questions that Christian liturgy puts to its participants.
Connects philosophy of religion with religious practice and contemplates the ethical dimensions of corporate ritualized activity.
Illustrates how one might approach the problem of divine hiddenness.
Reveals the ways in which liturgical scripts call for its participants to construct and shape their narrative identities through liturgical re-enactment.

Ritualized Faith

Essays on the Philosophy of Liturgy

Terence Cuneo

Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology

Description

Central to the lives of the religiously committed are not simply religious convictions but also religious practices. The religiously committed, for example, regularly assemble to engage in religious rites, including corporate liturgical worship. Although the participation in liturgy is central to the religious lives of many, few philosophers have given it attention. In this collection of essays, Terence Cuneo turns his attention to liturgy, contending that the topic proves itself to be philosophically rich and rewarding. Taking the liturgical practices of Eastern Christianity as its focal point, Ritualized Faith examines issues such as what the ethical importance of ritualized religious activities might be, what it is to immerse oneself in such activities, and what the significance of liturgical singing and iconography are. In doing so, Cuneo makes sense of these liturgical practices and indicates why they deserve a place in the religiously committed life.

Ritualized Faith

Essays on the Philosophy of Liturgy

Terence Cuneo

Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology

Introduction
1. Love and Liturgy
2. Protesting Evil
3. Another Look at Divine Hiddenness
4. Liturgical Immersion
5. Liturgy and the Moral Life
6. If These Walls Could Only Speak: Icons as Vehicles of Divine Speech
7. The Significance of Liturgical Singing
8. Ritual Knowledge
9. Transforming the Self: On the Baptismal Rite
10. Rites of Remission
11. Entering through Death, Living with Doubt
Bibliography

Ritualized Faith

Essays on the Philosophy of Liturgy

Terence Cuneo

Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology

Author Information

Terence Cuneo is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Vermont. In addition to having published a wide array of essays in the foundations of ethics, the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of religion, Cuneo's books include Speech and Morality: On the Metaethical Implications of Speaking (OUP, 2014) and The Normative Web: An Argument for Moral Realism (OUP, 2007), which was awarded Honorable Mention, American Philosophical Association Biennial Book Prize 2007-2009.

Ritualized Faith

Essays on the Philosophy of Liturgy

Terence Cuneo

Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology

Reviews and Awards

"Ritualized Faith opens the door to a refreshing new way of practicing the philosophy of religion. Philosophical theology, philosophy of literature, epistemology, and the philosophy of language all rub shoulders in this book--but they do so in a profound and sustained conversation...The fruits of this labour are too numerous to note. Perhaps my favourite take-homes were the rich variety of concepts that Cuneo develops in order to track the rich variety of imaginative engagement that the ritual life calls for (such as his notion of a target role). A religiously-centred philosophy of religion, it turns out, needs to pay a great deal of attention to the imagination, and Cuneo makes a more than promising start...I hope that this engaging and illuminating book will be widely read and widely discussed."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"Cuneo brings a new outlook to many of these liturgical issues precisely because he comes at them as questions framed more philosophically than theologically, and through an Eastern Orthodox lens. His honesty concerning his own faith commitment and his ongoing grappling with doubt also add a strong air of authenticity and urgency to his approach, of which theologians would do well to take careful note. Cuneo is able to make observations of considerable sophistication and clarity as a lay participant about liturgy and its place in Christian existence-observations that I suspect a good number of 21st-century Christians would like to make, but would perhaps struggle to articulate so well."--Reading Religion