And I have known the eyes already, known them all -
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
Quote: Hauerwas on Liturgy
Submitted by mariagwyn on
Sometimes, you just have to toss something out there and see what happens. There is no ethicist better at this than Stanley Hauerwas. And if he is right, then, well, we should pay attention to our liturgy, yes?
[quote=Stanley Hauerwas]
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.
[/quote]
3 Comments
Elizabeth
21 May 2008 - 2:35pm
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murder?
Okay, I keep coming back to this but still can't figure it out. How is it murdering your best friend? Is it a joke? Context, please? I can see how by arguing endlessly about "the right" way to do it can murder a best friend....but not by singing a sappy song (even though it might feel like murder to some).
mariagwyn
23 May 2008 - 5:19pm
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No, Hauerwas isn't joking.
So my reply was longer than the post, and has now been raised in rank to its own full blown post.
Jeremy
22 May 2008 - 8:02pm
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I like it!
Maybe not murder, but at least hooking up with his friend's girlfriend. Ugly liturgy makes ugly people.
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