Dynamics of the Liturgy

Joseph Ratzinger's Theology of Liturgy

The Dynamics of the Liturgy is a constructive critique of the post-Vatican II liturgical reform through the lens of Joseph Ratzinger's liturgical and sacramental theology--written by a former student of the great pope emeritus. For Ratzinger, liturgy is the oxygen of the sacraments, and his sacramental theology, still largely unknown, is the key to understanding his theology of liturgy.

This work highlights the specifically ritual dimension of liturgy, and the significance this has for Pope Benedict XVI's proposed "reform of the reform". Father Vincent Twomey warns that the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite--which Pope Benedict XVI had promoted to enrich liturgical practice--are dangerously drifting apart rather than, as the pope emeritus intended, complementing each other as part of an authentic renewal of the liturgy.