Following a warm reception at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Boston this past November, Brian Butcher‘s new book, Liturgical Theology after Schmemann: An Orthodox Reading of Paul Ricoeur, was published earlier this year by Fordham University Press. Taking as his starting point the legacy of Alexander Schmemann (possibly the most influential Orthodox liturgical scholar of the 20th century, and author of the widely read For the Life of the World), Dr. Butcher argues that Eastern liturgical theology needs to develop beyond Schmemann’s predominantly patristic preoccupations and engage seriously with modern Western philosophy.

In particular, Dr. Butcher presents Paul Ricoeur, the famous French Protestant philosopher, as a figure whose ideas Eastern theologians (Catholic and Orthodox) should consider appropriating and applying in their liturgical study. The book concludes with Dr. Butcher’s own exemplary application of Ricoeur’s theories to the Great Blessing of Water performed at Theophany (the Eastern celebration of Christ’s Baptism, known in the West as Epiphany). As the eminent Andrew Louth (himself one of the foremost Orthodox theologians of today) observes in his Introduction, Dr. Butcher’s work stands as a significant step in redeeming 20th-century Eastern theologians’ failure to draw from Western philosophy and bring it to bear on the ancient teachings and traditions of the Church.