Caught in Transition: Liturgical Studies, Grand Narratives, and Methodologies of the Past and the Future. Partial Reflections on the ‘Liturgical Subjects: Christian Subjects, Biblical Narrative, and the Formation of the Self in Byzantium’

Scrinium: Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography. 2016. Vol. 12. P. 329–339.

Avdokhin A.

The short paper offers a critical assessment of the historical method in the recent Liturgical Subjects by D. Krueger, and extends the discussion into wider reflections on methodology of the studies of Christian liturgy and how they reflect larger shifts in early Christian studies. It is argued that thinking in terms of ‘grand narratives’ and unchanging liturgical patterns is ultimately rooted in the academic agendas of the nineteenth century. It is also suggested that the quest for innovative approaches to liturgical research should account for both new methodologies introduced and the historical insights of traditional scholarship.


Keywords: Byzantine studies, liturgy, methodology of historical studies, self, hymnography, Romanos the Melodist, Justinian