Bob Hurd defines Christian spirituality as a response to God's mystery, one that requires us to move with the life of Christ moving within us. It is an encounter with the mystery of God mediated to us through our very being. This is the concept of mediated immediacy that Rahner presents and that Hurd applies and explores. He notes that this specifically Christian form of spirituality, which is Christic, kenotic, and ecclesial, is at its heart liturgical. Tracing his concepts through Rahner and Marie-Louis Chauvet, Hurd argues, proficiently, that liturgical celebration is foundational to all Christian spirituality. Hence development of a liturgical spirituality is core to all aspects of Christian spirituality because it is truly source and summit.
Bob Hurd, best known as a liturgical composer, shines in this text as a liturgical scholar. In a thoughtful and clear manner, he presents liturgical celebration as central for the fullest expression of Christian life. The work is divided into two parts. In the first part of the book, he develops his central concept of the mystery of God, a mystery of love, of immediacy and transcendence, as a mystery of relationship between the divine and creation. Through this he presents the definition of spirituality mentioned previously, and then in the second half of the book he applies these concepts to the liturgy itself. As helpful as this is, Hurd goes even further in service to the material by approaching liturgical spirituality in the second half of the book ecumenically, drawing on that primary principal of ecumenical dialogue that focuses on what we hold ritually in common with our Protestant brothers and sisters as the starting point for ecumenical conversation.
In part 2 of the book, Bob Hurd demonstrates how the spirituality of the liturgy expresses the mystery of God. This is a spirituality that forms the baptized to go forth into the world, expressing in their own lives the kenotic, ecclesial, and eschatological movements experienced in liturgical celebration. Hurd's arguments are drawn primarily from the works of Rahner and Chauvet, and his application of this material provides access to the work of these theologians in an approachable, clear manner that does justice to the depth of each of their theologies. In this, especially, he is providing an important service because this book opens the works of these two theologians to new audiences, providing a fresh and insightful use of their theologies.
This text is beautifully written, well organized, and clearly argued. Hurd's use of Rahner and Chauvet make this book an excellent additional resource for graduate courses in liturgical theology or as an initial exposure to this material in an upper-level undergraduate course. It should also find a place in pastoral discussion by Diocesan liturgical commissions and as a deep read for well-formed parish liturgical committees.
