Quodlibet
Madness at the Poles
by S. M. Hutchens
I read today that kneeling at a ceremony at a place liturgists regard as improper, John Paul II refused to rise when his Master of Ceremonies instructed him to. It's reassuring to hear of JPII telling his professional nitpicker to bug off, for when is it improper for the pope or any man to kneel before God? What limits can the fabricators of liturgical systems admit to their proprietary rule? One of the great strengths of Prayer Book worship is that it discourages the madness one finds at the poles: that of the ceremonialists for whom no ornamentation is too much, for whom the significance of everything stifles that of the Principal Thing; and that of the liturgical antinomians whose theme is spontaneity, which always serves the degradation of corporate worship by the individualist impulse. One can die by starving on husks or choking on cake.
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on Christianity from the online archives
8.4—Fall 1995
The Demise of Biblical Preaching
Distortions of the Gospel and its Recovery by Donald G. Bloesch
more from the online archives
32.4—July/August 2019
on Probability, Death & the Existence of God by Graeme Hunter
21.6—July/August 2008
Benedict XVI on the Crisis of Faith & Reason by Samuel Gregg
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
