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What happens to the Bible when it is used in worship? What does music, choreography, the stringing together of texts, and the architectural setting itself, do to our sense of what the Bible means—and how does that influence our reading of it outside of worship? In Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation, Sebastian Selvén answers questions concerning how the Hebrew Bible is used in Jewish and Christian liturgical traditions and the impact this then has on biblical studies. This work addresses the neglect of liturgy and ritual in reception studies and makes the case that liturgy is one of the major influential forms of biblical reception. The case text is Isaiah 6:3 and its journey through the history of worship.
By looking at the Qedushah liturgies in Ashkenazi Judaism and the Sanctus in three church traditions—(pre-1969) Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (the Church of England), and Lutheranism (Martin Luther, and the Church of Sweden)—influential lines of reception are followed through history. Because the focus is on lived liturgy, not only are worship manuals and prayer books investigated but also architecture, music, and choreography. With an eye to modern-day uses, Selvén traces the historical developments of liturgical traditions. To do this, he has used methodological frameworks from the realm of anthropology. Liturgy, this study argues, plays a significant role in how scholars, clergy, and lay people receive the Bible, and how we understand the way it is to be read and sometimes even edited.
Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation will interest scholars of the Bible, liturgy, and church history, as well as Jewish and Christian clergy.
"The main strength of Selvén's work is that it shows how much the liturgy, which involves the worshippers in both speech and act, influences biblical interpretation. . . . [He] has written an important work upon which future scholars of the Bible and liturgy can further build." —Reading Religion
"Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation is a groundbreaking contribution to the under-developed field of the scholarly study of liturgical engagements with biblical texts." —Journal of the American Academy of Religion
“It is astounding how well-versed Sebastian Selvén is in both Jewish and Christian liturgy. While I was reading about the former, I was being taught new facts and theology about Jewish ritual; while I was reading about the latter, I could have closed my eyes and believed it was being written by a Christian liturgical scholar.” —David W. Fagerberg, author of Liturgical Mysticism
Sebastian Selvén received his doctorate in divinity from the University of Cambridge and is an independent researcher in biblical studies.