Sacred Scripture within the Horizon of Worship. Liturgical Hermeneutic of the Bible

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marco Benini
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2019 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 435153653

Understanding the Bible through the liturgy – this is how the concept of the habilitation thesis can be briefly described. The liturgy of the Church, with which most believers come into contact with the Bible in the first place, unfolds sacred Scripture, proclaims it, and is completely permeated by it. The pivotal question of the study is: What are the characteristics of a liturgical hermeneutic of sacred Scripture, i.e. the hermeneutic resulting from the celebration of the liturgy itself? How does the liturgy interpret the Bible as a whole and its individual pericopes? What approaches does the liturgy offer to Scripture? How do the canonical Bible and the "liturgical Bible" (those parts of the Bible that are used in the liturgy) relate to each other?The fundamental significance of these questions and their relevance for theology and the Church is underlined in Benedict XVI's Post-Synodal Exhortation Verbum Domini (2010): “A faith-filled understanding of sacred Scripture must always refer back to the liturgy […] This is in turn the basis for a correct approach to sacred Scripture.” (n. 52). The study examines these questions in two major parts. The first one explores – structured according to SC 24 – significant examples of the use of Scripture in the liturgy. For the reading order intertextually binds readings of the Old and New Testaments as well as Psalms together. In the light of the liturgical year other aspects shine forth. Prayers and hymns are also biblically inspired; signs and actions such as the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday or the white baptismal garment are ritual quotations / enactments of Scripture. The Mass, the sacramental celebrations and the Liturgy of the Hours are taken into account in the Roman, Milanese and Byzantine Rite. Thus, the breadth of the liturgical use of Scripture is illustrated (also with historical depth) under hermeneutical aspects.The second part is based upon the first and systematically covers the manifold dimensions of a liturgical hermeneutic of the Bible. The liturgical context, along with the ritual performances, is demonstrated to be a hermeneutical key to understand Scripture. Theological aspects of liturgical hermeneutic of the Bible are especially the anamnesis and the sacramentality of the word: The liturgy does not understand Scripture primarily as a document of the past, but celebrates it as a current, newly pronounced "Word of the living God", as a medium of the encounter with God. The unity of Scripture lies in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The reception of Scripture is appreciated as an act of the active participation in the liturgy, whereby approaches of literary and cultural studies are also made theologically fruitful.The liturgical theology developed in the systematic part opens the dialogue with other theological disciplines, especially with the biblical studies. With the final proposal of a "liturgical approach" the study is setting accents for the interdisciplinary and inter

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants