My church history does not use the lectionary but I can certainly see its value. You mentioned that Calvinist traditions rejected its use. Do you have any resources to examine why that happened? Was it based upon a total rejection of other church traditions or more of a freedom from church control?
Great question. Actually I made a mistake there. Many denominations that followed Calvin's teachings (Presbyterian, etc) still use the lectionary, some don't. The group that dropped the lectionary were the Anabaptist traditions. There were two reasons for this. First, trying to purify the church from traditions that developed over the centuries. The second was a turn toward a more biblically centered teaching and worship. They could have maintained the lectionary and done this but I think they wanted the freedom to concentrate or particular books and passages within the Bible and not feel constrained to follow the lectionary schedule. Unfortunately, most of the material I can find on this focuses on why certain denominations maintained the lectionary. Not much on why certain groups moved away from it. If anyone has good sources one this I would love to learn about them.
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My church history does not use the lectionary but I can certainly see its value. You mentioned that Calvinist traditions rejected its use. Do you have any resources to examine why that happened? Was it based upon a total rejection of other church traditions or more of a freedom from church control?
Great question. Actually I made a mistake there. Many denominations that followed Calvin's teachings (Presbyterian, etc) still use the lectionary, some don't. The group that dropped the lectionary were the Anabaptist traditions. There were two reasons for this. First, trying to purify the church from traditions that developed over the centuries. The second was a turn toward a more biblically centered teaching and worship. They could have maintained the lectionary and done this but I think they wanted the freedom to concentrate or particular books and passages within the Bible and not feel constrained to follow the lectionary schedule.
Unfortunately, most of the material I can find on this focuses on why certain denominations maintained the lectionary. Not much on why certain groups moved away from it. If anyone has good sources one this I would love to learn about them.