Antjie Krog’s Mass for the Earth. Ecumenical liturgy in poetical form

Activity: Talk or presentationTalk (lezing)

Description

Contribution to the panel "Contextual ecumenical challenges and limitations to preaching, praying and singing in times of climate change"

Abstract:
In 2020 South African poet Antjie Krog published O Brose Aarde. ‘n Misorde vir die Nuwe Verbond (translation: O Fragile Earth. A Mass for the New Covenant). In this poetical work, Krog challenges the human relationship with the earth. The work is created as a Mass, with an ‘Introitus & Miserere nobis’; ‘Hosanna: Sol, Luna, Terra’; ‘Credo’ and so forth, because of the worshipping and confessional character of this liturgical form. Also, what inspired Krog was an understanding of the Mass as a transformative practice through which the humans, who participate in its performance, want to become or do better.
Krog’s Mass circles around the questions: how can we take care of the earth when we do not care for each other / how can we care for each other if we do not care for the earth? This paper regards O Fragile Earth as a poetical liturgy and will ask how it challenges the ways in which human beings relate to the earth. It thereby also reflects on the potential of poetical liturgy to inspire a responsible relationship of human beings with the earth from a theological perspective.
Period9 Aug 2023
Event titleSocietas Liturgica: Congress Liturgy and Ecumenism
Event typeConference
LocationMaynooth, IrelandShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Antjie Krog
  • Ecotheology
  • Ecopoetics