Liturgy Institute London

Hours: to be determined. Held during weekday afternoons for three hours including a break.

The course anticipates the student will spend 60 hours in personal reading and study.

Cost: £295

Location: Liturgy Institute London (at Ealing Abbey)
74 Castlebar Road Ealing London, W5 2DD, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8194 2320
For further details or to register contact the Institute:
E-mail Clare Cogswell, the Registrar, at this linked E-mail address.
Location on Google Maps is found here.

Previous knowledge

A general familiarity with the structure and theological foundations of Catholic liturgical celebrations, an understanding of the liturgical reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council, and a capacity to engage critically with the visual arts.

Content

The course begins by identifying and analysing key categories of art situated within liturgical spaces, with particular emphasis on the liturgical principle of full, conscious, and active participation. It then explores how recent strategies in art — especially those emerging from contemporary and postmodern contexts — open new possibilities for liturgical art and affect theological understandings of worship, sanctification, Christian identity, and relationality.

Course Material

♦ Dwight W. Vogel, Primary Sources of Liturgical theology: A Reader (Minnesota: Pueblo Books-Liturgical Press, 2000)

♦ Jonathan Koéstle-Cate, Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace (London: Routledge, 2016).

Additional reading material will be provided, involving selected readings from:

♦ David W. Fagerberg, What is Liturgical Theology: A Study in Methodology (Minnesota: Pueblo Books-Liturgical Press, 1992).

♦ Gordon W. Lathrop, Holy things: A Liturgical Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998).

♦ A.G. Martimort, The Church at Prayer Vol. 1: Principles of the Liturgy (Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1987).

♦ Second Vatican Council, “Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings,” in Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (§§121-130).

♦ Robin M. Jensen, The Substance of Things Seen: Art, faith, and the Christian Community(Cambridge UK: Eerdmans, 2004).

♦ Arnold Berleant, Re-thinking Aesthetics: Rogue Essays on Aesthetics and the Arts (London: Routledge, 2016)

♦ Gordon W. Lathrop, Saving Images: The Presence of the Bible in Christian Liturgy(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998).

♦ Nicholas Wolterstorff, Art Rethought: The Social Practice of Art (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015)

♦ Robert McSwain and Taylor Worley eds., Theology, Aesthetics, & Culture (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012).

Description of learning activities

♦ Attendance and participation in class discussion.

♦ Reading assignments.

♦ Classes will include one practical component involving research activities in a non-campus site.

♦ Summative question: Class presentation/paper and oral discussion focused on the theological significance of a particular work of liturgical art.

Evaluation description

You may audit the course without taking an exam or receiving a mark for the course.

If you you need to submit a mark for the course for valuation toward a programme of study at KU Leuven or at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy at Sant’Anselmo or another academic institution, the evaluation comprises the following assessment.

Examination type: participation (30%), research report (40%), final presentation/paper (30%).
You may also audit this course and take no exam, receive no mark or final assessment.

When: Participation involves preparation for daily sessions and participation in discussions. The research report will be submitted at an agreed upon time during the brief, intensive course. The final presentation / paper is given during the final session.

Research Report (40%): This report consists of two components. First, it requires an analysis of the theological significance of a selected work of art within its liturgical context, considering how it functions within worship and contributes to the theological meaning of the rite. Second, it asks for a critical reflection on how this work of art serves as a practice-informed source for liturgical theology, with particular attention to its sociocultural location and the ways it reflects or challenges contemporary expressions of faith and ecclesial identity.

Second opportunity to sit the exam: Because this is an intensive summer course, the opportunity for a second exam is by appointment and depends upon the availability of the instructor.

Note: Students must be over 18 years of age.

This course has been designed to be taken alone or in conjunction with AL701 Architecture with Arts for Liturgy.

This course may also be taken along with one of the two foundational courses of our program of study of liturgy, both our introductory seminar to conducting research in the fiedl of liturgy: L701 Lliturgical Research Seminar, and our introductory course on the history of liturgy: L702 Liturgy in the West: History and Context as the foundational courses of the programme of studies in liturgy. Otherwise, this course may be taken with L705 Theology of the Liturgy or another course offered by the Liturgy Institute.

If students enrol in two concurrent courses, they may wish to prepare for the intensive schedule by reading suggested texts before the course begins.

The instructor will arrange with the students to be available regularly for some time at the Institute and is also available by appointment.

Students and the public are invited to attend the annual St Bede Lecture, to be given by the Abbot Primate Jeremias Schröder at Ealing Abbey on Saturday afternoon 11 July at 2.30 PM.

Accommodation:

Non residential day students are welcome.

Limited accommodation is available through Ealing Abbey house for guests or other religious houses or nearby.

 Academic term: Summer 2026
 Duration: 26.0 hours
 Language: English
 Difficulty: Master’s level-Introductory
 Periodicity: Taught biennially in Block I

Page revised on 6 December 2025 by DM.