Holy Ground: A Liturgical Cosmology

This latest work from leading liturgical theologian Gordon Lathrop explores the extent to which the central symbols and interactions of Christian liturgy yield, for their participants, a new proposal for their understanding and experience of the world. In the process, it considers various kinds of world-making, the diverse maps, and the differing senses of "cosmology" in which we all live. Finally, the book examines how certain liturgical reforms can contribute to a refreshed sense of ecological ethics—to a Christian sense of the holiness of the earth itself.

"Something momentous is happening. Call it 'religions ecological phase.' As it happens, the liturgies of our lives both undergo transformation and provoke it. To see that in action, ppick up Lathrop and partake. With refined sensibilities and learning, Holy Ground cultivates rich old ground and breaks fertile new ground."
— Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary

"Here is a rare work of theology, at once liturgical, poetic, cosmological and ethical. This culminating volume of Gordon Lathrop's trilogy focuses the Trinitarian holiness of God so as to illuminate our whole inhabited world. When liturgical participation and cosmology meet and embrace in these pages, both are deepened in unexpected ways. Christian liturgy and critical theological reflection about 'cosmos' will no longer be separate domains, nor easy clichés, for attentive readers of this work."
— Don E. Saliers, Wm. R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship, Emory University

"How do those cosmologies form and mal-form our ways of being human on this generous and broken planet? Gordon Lathrop brings ancient wisdom to bear on the unprecedented challenge facing humankind today: forging sustainable Earth-human relations. Word, bath, meal, and prayer may profoundly re-orient us toward earth-honoring, justice-making worldviews and ways of life...."
— Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda, Union Theological Seminary, author of Healing a Broken World

I. Cosmos: Liturgical World-Making

1. Burning Bush: Biblical Reorientation in the Universe
2. The Cardinal Directions: Liturgical Reorientation
3. Walking in Holiness: Liturgical Spirituality

II. Maps: Liturgical Ethics

4. Eucharist and the Blue Planet
5. Baptism, Boundaries, Outsiders
6. Sunday, Pascha, and Sky-Map

III. One Is Holy: Liturgical Poetics

7. Antiliturgica: On the Ritual-Making of False Worlds
8. The Unmapped: Bread in the Wilderness
9. Tree of Life: Liturgical Theology, Liturgical Cosmology