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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2025

Joris Geldhof
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
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Summary

The relevance of Christian liturgy can hardly be underestimated. Christians are present in most of the world’s cultures and societies today. Sometimes they are only tiny minorities. Sometimes these minorities are well respected, but the opposite can be equally true. Sometimes they are suppressed and even persecuted. In other cases Christians occupy a majority position, which enables them to celebrate and live their faith in the public realm. This position, which can but may not necessarily go back several centuries, also allows them to be in power and to staff the decision-making bodies at many levels of socio-economic and political life. Still other historical circumstances cause Christians to look back on an influential past and a lost impact. This often results in a fragmented situation with an uncertain outcome, which obviously comes with many challenges, not least for Christians themselves. This scenario is particularly the case in so-called secular cultures, characterized by sometimes dramatically rapid processes of pluralization and detraditionalization.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Joris Geldhof, University of Notre Dame
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Liturgy
  • Online publication: 19 September 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009186650.001
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Save book to Dropbox

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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Joris Geldhof, University of Notre Dame
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Liturgy
  • Online publication: 19 September 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009186650.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Joris Geldhof, University of Notre Dame
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Liturgy
  • Online publication: 19 September 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009186650.001
Available formats
×