Sacred Drama: A Spirituality of Christian Liturgy.

Patricia Wilson-Kastner, Sacred Drama: A Spirituality of Christian Liturgy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 1999. vi+154pp. $15.00 (paper).

Patricia Wilson-Kastner has written a wonderful introduction to the spirituality of ritual drama in the rite of Christian Eucharist. Individuals who are familiar with the liturgy of the Christian church, as well as those new to such forms of worship, will benefit from it. The author's presentation is warm, positive, and inviting.

Wilson-Kastner begins her book with a delightful but poignant introductory prologue wherein she colorfully depicts two examples of liturgical presentations that reflect the extremes of denying the world all together, or affirming it so whole-heartedly that God and the transcendence of life are not taken seriously. The disappointment with these extremes prompts the author to ask: "What is the essence of liturgy?" She explains that three assumptions underlie her work. First, "the altar and the world are profoundly connected." Second, "the sermon is an integral part of the liturgy." And finally, "the liturgy, particularly articulated in the homily or sermon, is the locus for the identity-formation of the Christian community" (4). With these assumptions in mind, the author explores the Eucharist as the distinctive and central way in which individuals are shaped and nurtured in their identity as Christians and grow in that identity as the transformed and transforming people of God.

The remaining six chapters of the book systematically analyze and reflect upon various elements and dimensions of the Eucharistic celebration. Beginning with a broad overview that addresses issues of definition and function as they pertain to liturgy in general, the author paints a lucid picture of the dramatic qualities of liturgical expression. She then discusses the characteristics of sacred time and space, the liturgical community, the role of scripture within the worshiping congregation, preaching as incarnational prayer, and the Eucharistic meal itself. Throughout each chapter, Wilson-Kastner reinforces the themes of hope and identity--both that of the individual and the group--as seen in and established through the liturgical drama.

Wilson-Kastner does a commendable job of making a case for liturgical practice. She consistently highlights the multi-dimensional, multivalent, and dynamic character of the Eucharistic celebration. The book successfully demonstrates the underlying spirituality and theological meaning of liturgy without sounding preachy. Its subtitle offers an accurate description of the author's emphasis on spirituality (on the devotional aspects of the liturgy and the sense of divine presence) rather than theology (the intellectual discourse of doctrinal positions). She speaks effectively to those in the pew without neglecting her ordained colleagues and academic peers. Wilson-Kastner, as an Episcopal priest, understandably focuses her attention primarily on the liturgy of the Eucharist as it is practiced within the Episcopal and other Protestant mainline traditions. It is the book's one drawback. Having grown up in a nonliturgical tradition, I have become increasingly curious about the unstated, perhaps even denied, role t hat liturgy still plays in those congregations. The author does give an occasional nod in their direction, but a full treatment of their services and the liturgical aspects in the drama of their meetings is lacking. Of particular interest might have been the place given to scripture and the function of preaching in nonliturgical traditions, especially since the author gives such a full evaluation of those elements within the Episcopal church.

In my present position, I occasionally work with the often-related areas of youth, pop culture, and the emergent American cyberculture. Therefore, I was curious to see whether the author would address the relevance of Christian liturgy to youth culture and the effects of "cyberality" on the ideals of Christian community. Although Wilson-Kastner does not speak to the copious mix of issues facing Christian community and liturgical theology in the hypertext environments of the World Wide Web (e.g., on-line Church services, confessions, and Eucharist celebrations), she does conclude her book with a statement about the liturgy of the future. Quite fittingly for the period in which we find ourselves presently, she asks, "How does our eschatology form our liturgy? And how does liturgy shape our eschatology?" (115). The liturgy serves simultaneously as both a mirror of the way Christians see themselves interacting with the Divine and an idyllic projection of how that interaction will look in the life to come. It is at this point that Wilson-Kastner's emphasis on hope is made most explicit. In the symbolic action of liturgy, there is always paradox, a tension between what is and what will be. As a result, there is an eschatological hope expressed and experienced in the Eucharist that is realized in the life of the community and carried out into the world.

In spite of the fact that the author never directly addresses the Internet, her epilogue suggests strongly that she would view such products of our pluralistic culture and world of postmodernity as potentially threatening to the precious and necessary ideals of hope and community explicitly communicated in and through the liturgy. In fact, with the love that Wilson-Kastner obviously has for the drama of liturgical worship radiating from every page, her entire text, in effect, could be read as an appeal to re-embrace corporate identity and communal heritage over against the context of disparity, fragmentation, and isolation. In the Eucharist, identity and hope are offered to those who have none.

SCOTT S. ELLIOYT teaches at Southwest Missouri State University.