We Give Our Thanks Unto Thee: Essays in Memory of Fr. Alexander Schmemann

Fr. Alexander Schmemann continues to influence liturgical and sacramental theologies some thirty-five years after his death. Despite the wide acceptance within Protestant circles of his timeless classic For the Life of the World there has been relatively little written about him from an ecumenical context. This volume of collected essays seeks to explore his theological legacy and further his work. With essays from leading scholars such as David Fagerberg Bruce Morrill Joyce Zimmerman and more this volume is meant for both teachers and students of liturgical and sacramental theology. In an effort to introduce Schmemann to a wider audience and to celebrate his work through meaningful engagement and dialogue contributors come from a wide variety of ecclesiastical backgrounds: Anglican Roman Catholic Orthodox Lutheran Presbyterian Methodist Free Church and more. The Eucharist is therefore the manifestation of the Church as the new aeon; it is participation in the Kingdom as the parousia as the presence of the Resurrected and Resurrecting Lord. It is not the repetition of His advent or coming into the world but the lifting up of the Church into His parousia the Churchs participation in His heavenly glory. Fr. Alexander Schmemann Introduction to Liturgical Theology p. 72. We have waited too long for exactly this book! Alexander Schmemann was without question the most profound liturgical theologian of the twentieth century. Yet though his writings are eminently relevant to the church in general up to this point they have been seriously engaged almost exclusively by fellow members of his Orthodox tradition and by members of one of the other higher liturgical traditions. Here at last we have a truly ecumenical engagement with Schmemanns thought. Top scholars from a variety of ecclesiastical traditions offer illuminating interpretations of Schmemanns texts subject his thought to critique when that seems relevant and then use his ideas in their own theological reflections on liturgy. Altogether a superb contribution to the cause of liturgical theology. --Nicholas Wolterstorff Yale University In this collection Orthodox Catholic Anglican Methodist Reformed and Evangelical essayists consider the life work and thought of Alexander Schmemann whose contributions to sacramental theology liturgical and pastoral reflection and ecumenical engagement remain pertinent today. Readers familiar with Fr. Alexander will find here new interpretations by authors of different generations while those not yet acquainted will come to understand the Orthodox theologians connections between theology liturgy life Church and world. --Karen B. Westerfield Tucker Boston University Porter Taylor assembles an expansive ecumenical group of authors often from unexpected corners of Christianity to connect challenge and extend Schmemanns work into encounters with new research and questions. What better way to honor such a foundational figure in the field of liturgical theology? --Lizette Larson-Miller Huron University For over fifty years serious students of Christian worship have been stirred by the writings of the late Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann. This volume of equally outstanding essays not only pays tribute to his intellectual legacy but also advances exciting new lines of inquiry for the next generation of ecumenical liturgical theologians who seek to follow in his footsteps. --Melanie C. Ross Yale Divinity School We Give Our Thanks Unto Thee edited by Porter C. Taylor brings together essays that honor Fr. Alexander Schmemann both with its title most apt for a eucharistic man but also by means of its rich content. Roman Catholic Reformed Anglican various evangelicals and of course Orthodox join in offering perspectives by which we can better appreciate the light that continues to radiate to diverse places from this remarkable thinker and pastor since