ABSTRACT
At its very core, the liturgy as ritual, like gesture, dramatizes bodily what carries the community. The performance is embedded in deep memory—a mimesis of valuational encodings. This chapter navigates between liturgical studies and liturgical theology. It begins by recalling the impact of North Africa in establishing exact texts for the public worship of the church. In this way, the rule of belief interlaces with the community’s performance of the Paschal Mystery. The chapter examines the power of ancestral memorial undergirding liturgical celebration in general (from Jewish roots) and controlling liturgical renewal and inculturation in African Christianity. The chapter closes with the witness of life, the lex vivendi (the rule of faith embodied in the ethical witness with one’s life) as the epiphany of the church. In the Christian martyr, liturgical memorial, as the death of the martyr, challenges the taken-for-granted-ness of life in church and society.
