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Orandi, Credendi, Vivendi

David Gambrell

Keep this under wraps – sub rosa – but there’s a cryptic Latin phrase lurking behind the deceptively simple title of our new blog: “Thinking, Praying, Living.” Lex orandi, lex credendi. Don’t say it out loud. You might turn a houseplant into a burning bush.

Just kidding. This favorite aphorism of liturgists, lex orandi, lex credendi (literally: “the law of praying [is] the law of believing”) suggests that how we worship is integrally related to what we believe. (Indeed, some liturgical theologians have argued that liturgy is “primary theology” – the fons et origo of theological reflection and doctrinal development. But I wouldn’t want to start an argument with the systematicians down the hall, would I?)

The source of this notion is found in a fifth century letter by Prosper of Aquitaine concerning the problem of semi-pelagianism. Seeking to defend Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, using an argument from (probably) the intercessions of the Good Friday liturgy, Prosper wrote: ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi, or “that the law of supplication might establish the law of believing.” (See Michael G. L. Church’s excellent article, “The Law of Begging: Prosper at the End of the Day,” in Worship 73.5: 442-453.) In the grammar of Prosper’s phrase, there is clearly a subject and an object: supplication shapes believing.

However, the form of the aphorism that has been handed down to us – lex orandi, lex credendi – is a bit more ambiguous, and appropriately so. Theology and liturgy are deeply interrelated, and in different ecclesiological contexts and historical settings, praying and believing may alternately shape one another. For a classic study of this dynamic relationship and how it plays out in the life of the church see Geoffrey Wainwright’s Doxology: The Praise of God in Worship, Doctrine, and Life (New York: Oxford, 1980).

Lex orandi, lex credendi is sometimes augmented by another participle: agendi, “doing” (i.e., ethics), or vivendi, “living.” How we worship, what we believe, and how we live – these things are inextricably connected.

You can actually see the pattern of thinking, praying, and living (or theology, worship, and ethics) reflected in the shape of the church’s catechisms (e.g. Heidelberg or Westminster). Among other questions and answers about Christian doctrine, the catechisms typically include the Apostles’ Creed (thinking the faith), the Lord’s Prayer (praying the faith), and the Ten Commandments (living the faith). This is a tradition that can be traced back to the catechesis of early Christians, in which would-be members of the church were required to learn (traditio symboli) and recite (redditio symboli) the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Decalogue. This pattern also endured in the Reformed order of worship; Calvin’s 1545 Strasbourg liturgy included the Ten Commandments, Lord’s Prayer, and Apostles’ Creed – often sung.

Thinking, praying, and living the faith – integrally related – the heart and soul and strength of Christian discipleship. This is a conviction shared by my colleagues in the Office of Theology and Worship, and it’s one that we look forward to exploring with you in this blog.

• Posted at 1:33 p.m.
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Categories: Faith, Theology, Worship