Studia Liturgica

This contribution reflects on the biblical image of the mantle of Elijah as a theological key for understanding liturgical space, ecclesiology, and the role of the assembly in contemporary Christian worship. Drawing on biblical exegesis, historical theology, and liturgical tradition, the text explores the dynamic tension between communal participation and openness to transcendence within spaces of celebration.

The space given by God to man is the instrument that connects man with things, with others, and with God. It constantly fulfils what it signifies, as at World Youth Day in Paris in 1997, when the young people gathered around the Pope visibly formed the Body of Christ. The liturgical space must also be designed to signify the liturgy that takes place there: to enter into relationship with other faithful, with God, and to make Christ present among us. For this, we need to return to the origins of church buildings and create, for each place and with each community, the liturgical space that will allow it to best bear witness to its life and faith, within the liturgy that gathers it, far from any predefined scheme.

This article goes beyond the liturgical norms governing liturgical spaces in the Roman Catholic Church to interpret a “surplus,” continuing what is already being done well liturgically, but evoking what remains to be done architecturally in Africa. To do so, it denounces the dual Jonah complex and the evil of “coloniality.” It articulates questions that need to be considered and focuses on anthropological aspects, without losing sight of the fact that the essence of any liturgical space is the encounter with God. It also provides examples of liturgical spaces to illustrate its points, mainly African churches, but also others. Ultimately, the question of liturgical spaces is at once human, ecclesiological, cultural, and spiritual.

This article explores sacred space in the Christian East as a site where order and disruption are not opposites but entwined. It examines how access to the sanctuary, though often framed as fixed and hierarchical, is in practice shaped by exceptions, reversals, and local traditions that complicate traditional boundaries. The first half of the article traces the structuring of space in early and medieval Christian texts, while the second focuses on gendered access through historical roles like deaconesses, female monastics, empresses, and laywomen. Drawing also from the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the contested “punk prayer” performance of Pussy Riot, the article reflects on how sacred space both enforces and exceeds its own limits.

The paper begins with the metaphor of the City of God, originating from the thought of St. Augustine, interpreted through the lens of Henri Lefebvre's concept of the “Right to the City” in his 1968 book Le Droit à la ville—a fundamental theoretical framework for contemporary urban planning studies—that argues cities should be shaped by inhabitants’ collective needs rather than market forces or elite control. Furthermore, the paper proposes reading liturgical space as a prefiguration of the City of God, transforming it into a place of inclusion, prioritizing a horizontal, de-hierarchized liturgy with free access and movement. By combining the languages of urban planning and liturgy, the study seeks to construct a renewed theology of liturgical space, free from unnecessary and exclusionary symbolism, ensuring the right to free belonging and free circulation.

The threshold at the church door traditionally marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. However, a strict separation of these realms did not exist until modern times. Only secular thinking marginalizes the sacred. The loss of sacred spaces as a result of the shrinking of Christian communities in Western Europe affects society as a whole. Their transformation into spiritual, cultural, or social meeting places benefits everyone, not least the Christian communities themselves.

This paper examines the role of jazz funeral processions in New Orleans as a form of ritualized movement through both sacred and secular spaces. By analyzing the spatial and sequential elements of processions, the paper situates jazz funerals within the broader framework of Christian liturgical practices. It seeks to highlight and honor the unique evolution of these inculturated processions, considering the African and Caribbean roots from which it developed. Moving through both sacred and secular spaces, the jazz procession blurs these boundaries and claims new territories for collective memory and identity. By incorporating elements of Christian, African, and New Orleans traditions, these processions allow the community to reclaim sacred space in the public sphere and to reinforce religious and social agency.

Gothic Revival architecture has had an outsized impact on churches since the nineteenth century. While it originated in the Church of England, it has spread to many other parts of the globe and among other ecclesial traditions, including those without prescribed liturgical forms. Theories for the popularity of this architectural style include its appeal to romanticism, nationalism/colonialism, and the desire for Christian unity. These theories offer sociological factors involved in its perdurance but fail to explain its more profound influence. Ritual theory, with its understanding of sacred space, liminality, and ritualization, offers insights into these more profound influences.