Do This: Liturgy as Performance
“Do This. . . is a valuable contribution to the conversation about worship that is ongoing between practitioners and scholars. Professors who teach advanced courses in liturgical studies will find their reading lists enriched by McCall’s foray into the drama that is liturgical enactment.” —Anglican Theological Review“McCall highlights the dramatic character of liturgy in this book, giving it theoretical substance. 'Liturgy as performance' is not intended here in the informal sense panned by ecclesiastical authorities as a widespread popular misinterpretation of liturgical 'active participation.' Rather, McCall is concerned with theory, much of it philosophical-from Aristotle to Bakhtin.” —Choice“Far from being anapologia pro ostentatione liturgica,this is a serious attempt to explore performance as “a many-faceted model for approaching all of that reality which can only be, for human beings, symbolic and enacted in our institutions, relationships, art, and rituals” (3). It is the most important book I have read in liturgical studies in the last five years.” —Worship“McCall has done all those who toil in that field a great service by showing that a non text-based methodology can be brought to bear on liturgy as an event. He deliberately tries to avoid any reliance on text to understand liturgy as performed, although he appeals to it here and there. Many have tried to develop a methodology, for the liturgical event, but McCall has largely succeeded.” —Theoforum