Joint Liturgical Studies
Joint Liturgical Studies offers a valuable contribution to the
study of liturgy. Each issue considers a particular aspect of
liturgical development, such as the origins of the Roman rite,
Anglican Orders, welcoming the Baptised, and Anglican Missals. It
is aimed at all with an academic interest in worship.
It is published twice a year in partnership with the Alcuin
Club, which promotes the study of Christian liturgy, and the Group
for Renewal of Worship (GROW).
Volume 85: Eucharistic Sacrifice as a Contested
Category: A Cognitive Linguistics Approach
Stephen R. Shaver
This study seeks to chart a course through the vexed question of
eucharistic sacrifice by drawing attention not to historical
disputes nor to doctrinal formulations but to a more basic issue:
the unstable nature of sacrifice as a concept. Drawing upon the
field of cognitive linguistics to analyze assumptions about
sacrifice in four recent bodies of work by contemporary
theologians-both liturgical scholars and others-the author argues
that sacrifice is an example of a 'contested category': one in
which different prototypical understandings compete with one
another, with no single definition able to claim preeminence. Using
cognitive linguistics to illuminate the complex structure of
sacrifice can highlight both points of convergence and ongoing
areas of disagreement, contributing to greater mutual understanding
and potential ecumenical reconciliation.
Stephen R. Shaver, a priest of the Episcopal Church, completed a
PhD in liturgical studies in 2017 at the Graduate Theological
Union, Berkeley, California, and serves as an adjunct faculty
member at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He has written
articles on topics including eucharistic origins, eucharistic
presence, and the intersection of cognitive linguistics with
liturgical theology. In summer 2018 he will begin a new ministry as
rector of the Church of the Incarnation, Santa Rosa,
California.
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