I THINK THIS BOOK WILL BE RIGHT UP MY ALLEY, JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED!

The following article is written by Shawn Tribe of the New Liturgical Movement blog, and the book looks like it will be very exciting to read and yes, controversial. I love controversy.

Book Notice: The Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite by László Dobszay
by Shawn Tribe

Many of you will already be familiar with the work of Professor László Dobszay, author of The Bugnini Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform. He has now come out with another work available in English, The Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite.

From the publisher's description of the work:


The volume, like the series, will be aimed at moving the debate about liturgy out of the narrow confines of either ‘pastoral liturgy’, ‘reform of the reform’ or nostalgia and bemoaning of the ruination of liturgical tradition to an entirely higher plane, of serious, scholarly, measured analysis combining historical, philosophical, musicological and liturgical.

This book advances a provocative and controversial set of proposals for the development of future liturgical reform in its attempt to re-engage with a traditional sense of the Roman Rite.

The author is uniquely placed to make the case he does: a mediævalist and musicologist of unparalleled experience and breadth, Dobszay combines – almost uniquely – a profound knowledge of the history of the development of the Roman Rite – especially the Antiphonary – with a personal interest and passionate concern for the lived experience of the rite itself.

The result is a lively and vigorous text based around the idea of the actual liturgical sense of the Roman Rite – meaning a respect for its integrity as an historical tradition that found multiform expression across Europe and also across at least 1600 years, combined with a sympathy for the fact that the rite is still a living entity with a long future ahead of it. Dobszay provides an introduction to the whole meaning of liturgical study and the liturgical sense, scholarly insight, and practical understanding. The text is divided into two sections – an introductory section giving background and history and a rationale for the second section which, segment by segment, examines the current state of the Roman Rite and makes constructive proposals for its development. The text is a provocation – it will certainly excite both considerable hostility and sympathy from a wide range of quarters from conservative to radical wings of the discussion.



The table of contents of the book is as follows:

Part I
1. What the Roman Rite is
2. The Liturgical Movement
3. In the Name of the Council
4. Is the Medicine called Obedience?
5. Objections
6. Lex Credendi
7. From Ecclesia Dei to Summorum Pontificum
8. One Rite Two Forms?
9. The Co-existence of the two Rites
10. Mixing the Rites
11. The Method of the Organic Reform

Part II
1. Ritus, Usus, Consuetudo, Optio
2. The Language of the Liturgy
3. Ad Orientem
4. The Divine Office
5. The Calendar
6. The Readings of the Mass
7. The Proper Chants of the Mass
8. The Sacramentary
9. The Ordo Missae
10. Holy Week

To order: http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=132414

304 Pages, paperback. $49.95 (Hardcover, $140.00)