Tuesday 14 May 2013

Fascinating resource for further Lectionary studies

I forgot to mention in my previous post this fascinating resource which Joseph Shaw pointed me at.

Here you can see all the readings in the Old Missal, along with an analysis of the proportions from the different Gospels, OT v. NT and so on.  On a linked page, you can also see the stats for the EF Missal and the New Lectionary compared.

All very interesting, and certainly demonstrates how much more of theBible we have read in the new system.

Never let it be said I take a wholly one-sided approach to this issue (though in fact, I will argue later, as I have before, that more is not necessarily better in this particular instance).

2 comments:

Matthew Hazell said...

Fr Just's website is a very good resource. It continues to be helpful for my own studies in the lectionary.

His page comparing the EF with the OF seems a little lacking, though - it seems unfair to compare the % figures for Sundays & major feasts in the EF Missal with Sundays and Weekdays in the OF. Given the vast differences in the calendars, it would seem more fair to first compare the entire contents of the EF and OF with each other, then try to categorise the contents a little.

To that end, I have started to compile several tables of the use of the Bible in the EF. I'm looking at the introit, gradual/tract/alleluia, offertory and communion chants, as well as the epistle/lesson and gospel readings. Eventually I'll do something similar for the OF, and then perhaps build an index/concordance of biblical texts and where they appear in the lectionaries/missals. Hopefully it will be easier with that presentation of the data to compare the OF and EF and make some more detailed analysis of their contents.

I'd be happy to put this information in the public domain as and when I finish sections of it, if it's something people would be interested in using...

Ben Trovato said...

Matthew

Thanks, I'd certainly be very interested, and am sure others would too!