Benini (a priest of Eichstätt and professor of liturgy at Theological Faculty Trier) has reworked his Habilitationsschrift for English-speaking audiences to help promote clarity for understanding of the hermeneutics of the Bible from within the cycles of contemporary liturgical-sacramental lectionary readings, as well as in our use of psalm responses, prayer collects, hymns, symbols, and ritual actions. While his study primarily focuses on the Roman rite, he includes ample comparisons and influences found in relationship to Eastern Catholic rites (particularly the Milanese, Byzantine, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Maronite, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, etc.), which better acquaints readers with the historic development of hermeneutics within the wider Eucharistic Liturgies and the Liturgy of the Hours. His book is divided into three main sections.

Part A: The Liturgical Use of Sacred Scripture. Benini attempts to historically examine the Roman rite’s selection of particular stories from within the Old Testament (his chosen term throughout this book) used within the contemporary Jewish liturgical cycle of texts, and how the Christian Gospel pericopes were intentionally chosen in relation to those texts in the current cycles of Years A, B, and C, and in Years I and II. Of particular interest here is his comparison between the most recently updated ICEL edition (which had not been approved) with the more creative and expansive approved edition of the Italian Lectionary. His attention then turns to the Roman use of Psalms (as “participatory response” to the OT reading and a “bridge” to the Gospel reading), as well as the Psalms and shorter readings used within the Liturgy of the Hours. Following this, the author gives brief attention to the historic development of particular biblical texts adapted for use within the worshipping liturgical community’s prayers, songs, actions, and signs.

Part B: Systematic Overview: Dimensions of a Liturgical Hermeneutics of Sacred Scripture. After openly apologizing that this study will not be systematic, Benini actually is quite systematic in his approach here. He tackles how we interpret and how the community approaches Scripture through the celebration of the Liturgy; he clearly sees the Liturgical context as the “hermeneutic key” to the worshipping community’s better understanding of the biblical witness. In explaining the theological aspects of this liturgical hermeneutic of the Scriptures, Benini’s most central point is the anamnetic function or “making present” of God’s salvific activity within the contemporary worshipping community through its use of Sacred Scripture in its celebrations. What we hear read from the table of the Word, we then celebrate in the table of the Eucharist – so, this anamnetic dimension becomes our shared present reality. He discusses the sacramentality of the Word of God, the reciprocal relatedness of Word and Sacrament, the unity of Scripture in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, and the Pneumatological-Epicletic dimensions of the Word of God in our liturgical-sacramental celebrations as a present-day community. But overall, this anamnetic dimension is the most central theme throughout his entire text.

Part C: Insights and Perspectives: A Liturgical Approach. By far the shortest of Benini’s three main parts (p. 309-326), it concentrates on two subsections: “Bringing the Insights Together,” and “Perspectives: Bridges between Biblical and Liturgical Scholarship,” which concludes the text with the implicit question of where future scholarship can go from here forward.

As to his overall structure, I did appreciate Benini’s consistent use of “Hermeneutical Insights” i.e. small summaries at the end of subsections which appear as chapters 6, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 32, and 37. Each pulls the individual sets of subsections together as a whole, which lends to a retention of the central ideas identified throughout the book.  

I would suggest that the strongest feature of the text is his concentration and meticulous attention to the detail of the anamnetic function and dimension of Sacred Scripture as the central key to any Liturgical Hermeneutic. What we celebrate and pray becomes our present-day salvific reality as a community of faith. One area I would have liked to see him include is how modern Jewish synagogue worship was influenced by Catholic and Protestant liturgical styles in a post-WWII and post-Holocaust rebuilding of modern European Jewish (and American Jewish) identity, particularly within Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism, and how or to what degree this then impacts or interplays with Catholic awareness of contemporary liturgical structure and accompanying post-Conciliar lectionary pericope decisions.

One minor critique of the book is that many footnotes were left in their original German from the author’s Habilitationsschrift, which could be limiting to his intended English-speaking and reading audience. It would be helpful to know if the many German works originally cited throughout the text also now have English translations available. This very readable McNeil translation from Benini’s German original is best-suited for theology majors pursuing a concentration in liturgical-sacramental studies or graduate students in liturgy.