One of the occasional debates in moral theology is the connection between prayer and ethics. In a classic essay, L. Edward Phillips identified three ways Christians typically see connections: 1) liturgy as source of ethics, 2) liturgy in need of critique by ethicists, 3) and liturgy as central to Christian life. Catholic moral theologian M. Therese Lysaught charted five ways: 1) liturgy as ethics, 2) liturgy as an object of critique, 3) liturgy as transformative of the world, 4) liturgy as a source of ethical warrants, and 5) liturgy as formative of the agent.
Based on this week’s lectionary readings, I’d suggest that liturgy – especially in the form of our most common shared prayer, the Our Father – is formative, and source, and central to Christian life.
See the rest of this week’s lectionary post over at the Ekklesia Project blog.…
