On Earth as in Heaven?

Liturgy, Materiality, and Economics

Melanie C. Ross

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English

Liturgical Press
30 May 2025

Christian Churches & denominations

Explore the ways material economies have shaped past liturgical practices and continue to underlie our worship today. Because the “stuff” of Christian worship is inextricably enmeshed in the marketplace, it seems that our liturgical practices, materiality, and economics are forever intertwined. In On Earth as in Heaven? leading scholars who presented the 2023 Yale Institute of Sacred Music Liturgy Conference break new disciplinary ground by investigating complex dynamics of liturgical production, distribution, and power throughout history. This collection critically engages the tension between ""earthly"" materialities and eschatological visions of Christian hope, offering innovative methodologies, case studies, and approaches that promise to stimulate further research in liturgical studies and beyond.

Edited by: Melanie C. Ross
Imprint: Liturgical Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 765g
ISBN: 9780814689189
ISBN 10: 0814689183
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 30 May 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents List of Contributors xi Introduction 1 Melanie C. Ross Part One: Bread, Oil, Water, Waste Chapter One True Bread: Medieval Patriarchs, Ancient Rabbis, and the Modern Magisterium on Leavening, Fermentation, and Gluten 21 Andrew McGowan Chapter Two Oleoculture: The Production, Ritual Use, and Reservation of “the Fruit of the Olive” in the Early Church 47 Nathan P. Chase Chapter Three Hydrocapitalist Transubstantiations: Water, Wealth, and the Rite of Christian Baptism 99 Adam Vander Tuig Chapter Four On Trash and Other Liturgical Things 123 Andrew J. M. Irving Part Two: Manuscripts Chapter Five Expensive Blessings in the Syriac Liturgical Tradition 153 Ephrem Aboud Ishac Chapter Six Beyond the Deluxe: Early Medieval Liturgical Production in “Modest” Manuscripts 181 Tyler D. Sampson Chapter Seven “To What Purpose Is This Waste?” Luxury Illumination and Utilitarian Decoration in Medieval Mass Books 205 Innocent Smith, OP Part Three: Reformation and Early Modern Economies Chapter Eight The Cost of Practicing Religion 241 Esther Chung-Kim Chapter Nine A Clock of Capitalism? The Afterlife of Monastic Time in Reformation Geneva 265 Jenny Smith Chapter Ten Christian Ritual in British Slave Societies, 1650–1780 287 Nicholas M. Beasley Chapter Eleven The Price of Praise: The Musical Environment of the Parishes of Ath, in Hainaut, in the Eighteenth Century 301 Brigitte Van Wymeersch Part Four: Contemporary Explorations Chapter Twelve Enslavement Museums: Pilgrimage, Dark Tourism, and Social Reconciliation 333 Kimberly Hope Belcher Chapter Thirteen Spotify Thy Name, or Worshipping in the Age of Playlists 355 Joshua Kalin Busman Chapter Fourteen Mass Appeal: Music, Materiality, and the Market in the Postconciliar U.S. Catholic Church 381 Antonio Eduardo Alonso

Melanie C. Ross is associate professor of liturgical studies at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School.

Reviews for On Earth as in Heaven?: Liturgy, Materiality, and Economics

""Liturgy is where religion becomes a matter of seeing, touching, and tasting. It is the divine in the tangible creation—with all its messiness and practical demands on us—witnessing to the centrality of our understanding of being the creation within Christian faith. What these fourteen contributions offer us are glimpses into just how material our worship has been, is, and, indeed, must be. This collection is an important antidote to the siren voices of many in our culture who want to imagine worship as some perfect 'otherness' and in doing so only promote a disembodied gnosticism."" Thomas O'Loughlin, professor emeritus of historical theology, The University of Nottingham ""This volume offers food for thought on a crucial though often neglected aspect of the celebration of the faith of Christians, namely its connection with the world of money and commerce. As such, it situates itself in the growth of interdisciplinary conversations that scholars of liturgy hold, embrace, and ought to cherish. A lineup of excellent specialists guarantees the fine quality of the essays, which are organized chronologically. What one can learn from the history of interactions between the economy and the life of worship is that the economy of salvation, as much as it is a mystery, is worth a lot also in monetary terms. I very much hope that the insights from this book will generate much more reflection and that it will equally stimulate critical discussions, not only about how business and trade interrogate liturgy but also about the reverse, how Christian worship questions fundamental assumptions of neoliberal economics."" Joris Geldhof, KU Leuven