The Church's Liturgy
by Michael Kunzler
Translated from the German by Placed Murray, O.S.B., Henry O'Shea, O.S.B., and Cilian Ó Sé, O.S.B., all monks of Glenstal Abbey, Ireland
London and New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001
Vol. 10 in the AMATECA series, Handbooks of Catholic Theology (initiated by Eugenio Correcco and Christoph Schönborn)
Pp. 512. Hardbound $ 69.95; paperback $ 32.95 (2002)
ISBN: 0826413528
Review-commentary by Reverend Brian Van Hove, S.J.
Alma, Michigan
Published in Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal, vol. 10, no. 2 (2006): 221-223.
The failure of the best produces the worst. This "handbook" or textbook is said by the members of the AMATECA editorial board to be framed by the theologies of Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar. That should by definition make it the "best". However, this claim is negated by reliance upon authors and positions which are alien to the theology of both de Lubac and von Balthasar. There is a "Specified Bibliography for the English Edition". (p. 446 ff.) Heterodox authors are mixed with orthodox authors, and such intellectual confusion certainly does not help students. How can one say that de Lubac and von Balthasar would have approved of Nathan Mitchell, Bernard Cooke, David N. Power, Joseph Martos and Tad Guzie? Yet these authors are blithely cited, and their names appear in the bibliographies with classic Catholic authors such as Josef Andreas Jungmann, Jean Daniélou, Josef Pieper, Louis Bouyer, Henri Crouzel, Aimé Georges Martimort, Cipriano Vagaggini and Romano Guardini. The editorial board claims "to strive to maintain a proper balance in the treatment of controversial subjects in light of the belief of the Church and its magisterium". They are hard pressed to verify this in the volume under discussion.
The tortured English translation from the German, the huge number of typographical errors and the "bibliographical essay" technique of the editor-in-chief make this book useless (or harmful) for the naïve student and only passably helpful to the seminary professor or professional academic. Perhaps this edition is still too European for the Americans, and too American to be European. The translators are Irish Benedictine monks.
At times, the translators do not understand their subject matter. This is very often the case in references to the Eastern churches. On page 20, we find the expression "The Great Entry". Anyone familiar with Robert Taft's magisterial The Great Entrance (1978) would not make that translation error. On page 72, we find "contakion" when "kontkion" would be the transliteration into English. A simple Google search can instantly clean up this mistake. A high school student could do that much. On page 246, we find "Proskomidia" instead of "Proskomedia". On page 245, there is "Ektenie" instead of "Ektenia". On the same page appear the words "the miracle of transubstantiation"---an expression from Latin Scholasticism having nothing to do with the Christian East. Whether or not this is bad translation or good translation from a bad original is unknown, but frequent errors abound in matters Eastern.
This book carries the stamp "Printed in Germany". Years ago my German teacher said she never found a mistake in a book printed in Germany. Those days are gone. There is an error on almost every page of the present work, and often several. Many of them are minor, but cumulatively they are irritating. On page 29, we find "Eucharisr" instead of "Eucharist". And on page 39, we find the gibberish sentence: `It is only in the human nature that the heavenly liturgy of the Triune God came on earth and reendered earthly liturgy possible.' "Reendered" is presumably "rendered", but the sentence still is unclear after the correction.
The question of the use of Latin in the reformed Roman Rite is handled unfairly, given the upsurge of interest in this topic. (p. 109-110) The author-editor skews this subject in such a way so that the books of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger written about the liturgy in the 1990s get no substantive mention. The issue of the quality of the Latin in the editio typica is ignored. The concerns of Lauren Pristas about what I would call "junk Latin" ["Theological Principles that Guided the Redaction of the Roman Missal (1970)" in The Thomist (67): 157-195] are never raised---unimaginable for German scholarship which traditionally was ahead of the game, not behind it.
In 650 words Everett A. Diederich reviewed The Church's Liturgy in 2003. [Theological Studies, vol. 64, no. 4 (December 2003): 872-874.] However, his brief coverage did not delve into the criticisms just mentioned. Nor does Diederich minutely evaluate the quality of the entries for the "Specified Bibliography for the English Edition".
Diederich says of Kunzler: "He also takes up the question of the ordinary minister of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick, whether there might be `extraordinary ministers,' so that deacons and designated lay persons, such as acolytes and ministers of the Eucharist (290), might administer the sacrament." Neither Diederich nor Kunzler refers to the Council of Trent [De Extrema Unctione, Session 14, Chapter III and Canon IV; in Denzinger-Shönmetzer, *1697 "aut episcopi aut sacerdotes ab ipsis rite ordinati per impositionem manuum presbyterii," citing I Tim 4:14 and Canon IV], which states that the minister of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick must be an ordained bishop or an ordained priest and not merely an elder or a non-ordained delegate. Here is a grave omission.
Rightly, Diederich complains that the author rarely gave his personal position on a question. True enough. But that is only the beginning of our problems. There seems to be a guiding philosophy of liturgy behind the selections and highlights. This book is as important for what is not said as for what is said. Diederich concludes: "Passages expressing K.'s personal understanding of aspects of the liturgy are all too rare. Nevertheless his study should serve well as a textbook or a reference book for upper division and graduate survey courses. One hopes, however, that, should there be future editions, the editors will more carefully proofread the text (including the Index of Names and Topics) against errors and unclear and awkward expressions."
Knowing the weak background many seminarians bring to their academic efforts, our only conclusion is that this study will not serve well as a textbook or a reference book for upper division and graduate survey courses.
Given its high price, do not buy this book. Instead, check it out of the library and study it for the above objections. Yes, there are worthwhile bits and pieces, some real nuggets in this book, but who wants to spend all day panning for gold dust which is so hard to identify?
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Top reviews from other countries
Brian Van Hove
The Church's Liturgy
Reviewed in the United States on 20 October 2011