October 24, 2006

Hauerwas on Liturgy

Category: Theology - Liturgical :: Permalink

One reason why we Christians argue so much about which hymn to sing, which liturgy to follow, which way to worship is that the commandments teach us to believe that bad liturgy eventually leads to bad ethics.  You begin by singing some sappy, sentimental hymn, then you pray some pointless prayer, and the next thing you know you have murdered your best friend (Stanley Hauerwas, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life, p. 89). [HT: Anastasis]

Posted by John Barach @ 8:03 am | Discuss (3)

3 Responses to “Hauerwas on Liturgy”

  1. alastair.adversaria » Hauerwas, Liturgy and Aesthetics Says:
    October 24th, 2006 at 11:00 am

    […] OK, it’s almost 4:30am and I still haven’t gone to bed. However, I felt that I had to post this Hauerwas quote, which has been doing the circuit of the blogs [HT: John Barach]. One reason why we Christians argue so much about which hymn to sing, which liturgy to follow, which way to worship is that the commandments teach us to believe that bad liturgy eventually leads to bad ethics. You begin by singing some sappy, sentimental hymn, then you pray some pointless prayer, and the next thing you know you have murdered your best friend. — Stanley Hauerwas, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life, p.89 […]

  2. Troy Lizenby Says:
    October 27th, 2006 at 8:37 pm

    Like they say, “lex orandi, lex credendi”.

  3. Hauerwas, Liturgy and Aesthetics (or In Which Alastair is Unsure Whether or Not He Ought to Put His Tongue in His Cheek) | Alastair's Adversaria Says:
    December 18th, 2011 at 3:49 am

    […] I felt that I had to post this Hauerwas quote, which has been doing the circuit of the blogs [HT: John Barach]. One reason why we Christians argue so much about which hymn to sing, which liturgy to follow, […]

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