I didn’t get to see the whole opening ceremony from the Olympics, but was interested in two posts that reflected on the “opening ceremony” through the lense of liturgy and ritual.
Here’s an excerpt from the first – by James K A Smith:
“As someone who has written extensively about the formative power of "secular liturgies," you might think I'd be primed to analyze the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics as an example of just such a "secular" liturgy. In other words, you might think I'd be sympathetic to George Weigel's critical analysis of the opening ceremonies as "The Liturgy of the World State."
But you'd be wrong. Indeed, I think Weigel's account of the opening ceremony as a "liturgy" betrays a pre-Vatican II notion of the liturgy as spectacle, as something to be observed (rather than something inviting "full, conscious, active participation" as the reforms of Sacrosanctum Concilium emphasized)…”
The second is via Steve Taylor (and the link he made to another persons blog) – you’ll find Steve’s post and his link here.
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