Liturgical Identities: Global, National, Ecclesial

Directed by Michael L. Budde and D. Stephen Long

June 25-July 20, 2007

Michael L. Budde
DePaul University

Funds provided by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Co-sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

Seminar Description
Liturgies form identities. They set forth what is important, focus our attention, shape our bodies through particular practices, and bear communal memory in ways that form who we are, whose we are, and what matters most in life.

Liturgical practices bear in themselves an intentionality about how to live. This is true not only for the church, but other associations such as the nation-state and economic entities. The nation-state, for example, has its own hymns, ritual practices, saints and martyrs, and sacred calendar. Corporations increasingly construct ‘liturgies’ that create brand loyalty and allegiance, and shape the affections, dispositions and desires of people.

This seminar will draw upon traditional patterns of Christian worship in order to highlight similarities and difference, points of convergence and conflict, among formative communities – ecclesial and secular. It will provide participants the opportunity to explore how Christian ecclesiologies and forms of worship interact with other powerful practices that shape allegiances, identities and loyalties in our world.

Michael L. Budde is Professor and Chair in the Department of Political Science at DePaul University in Chicago; he is also Professor in the Program in Catholic Studies, and is former director of the university’s Center for Church-State Studies. His Ph.D. degree is in political science from Northwestern University. His scholarship focuses on the interaction of ecclesiology and political economy, and his most recent publications are: Conflicting Allegiances: The Church-Based University in a Liberal-Democratic Society (co-edited with John Wright, Brazos Press, 2004); Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business is Buying the Church (with Robert Brimlow, Brazos Press, 2002); and The Church as Counterculture: Christianity and Global Culture Industries (co-edited with Robert Brimlow, SUNY Press, 2000).

D. Stephen Long is Professor of Theology at Marquette University. Previously, he was associate professor of systematic theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is an ordained United Methodist Minister and has served churches in North Carolina and in Honduras. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University. The most recent of Steve's books are Divine Economy: Theology and the Market (Routledge, 2000); The Goodness of God: Theology, Church and Social Order (Brazos Press, 2001); and John Wesley's Moral Theology: The Quest for God and Goodness (Kingswood, 2005). Currently he is exploring how we can speak of God today without assuming that every truthful utterance must be subordinated to claims for power. Steve finds bicycling preferable to driving any day and regularly rides his bicycle to work. He is married to Ricka Brady and they have three children.

Seminars & Workshops 2007

For further information contact:
Seminars in Christian Scholarship
Calvin College
1855 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids MI 49546-4402
616.526.8558
fax 616.526.6682
seminars@calvin.edu