Feasts for the Kingdom
Sermons for the Liturgical Year
Author Khaled Anatolios Foreword by Cornelius Plantinga ISBN 9780802883032 Binding Trade Paper Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date August 29, 2023 Size 140 x 216 mmThe liturgical year centers on the story of Jesus—his birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. To attend to the feasts of the church is to enter into the life of Christ. Khaled Anatolios invites us into this perpetual mystery with forty-one homilies for the feasts of the church year.
As a patristic theologian, Anatolios illuminates the traditional doctrines of Christology and the Trinity, in a style reminiscent of the sermons of the great fathers of the church. Originally delivered as part of the Eastern Christian Divine Liturgy, the homilies look toward its Eucharistic fulfillment. Feasts for the Kingdom covers Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and other important holy days along the way. Also included are sermons for a federal election, funerals, and a wedding. This volume is the perfect companion for pastors seeking inspiration for their own preaching and for ordinary Christians aiming to enrich their prayerful preparation for each liturgical season.
“There is a poetic lilt to be found in Anatolios’s writing style, and, within the genre of the homily, he serves up challenging theology disguised as light, encouraging spiritual snacks.”
Church Times
“These homilies provide nourishment for both mind and spirit. They are, as Rowan Williams says in his commendation, ‘a treasury of wisdom and clarity.’”
“Theologically rich, spiritually perceptive, humanely contemporary, and informed by the great common heritage of Christian tradition, these homilies are a treasury of wisdom and clarity.”
—Rowan Williams, 104thArchbishop of Canterbury
“Opening the riches of Eastern Christianity to Christians of all traditions, Khaled Anatolios’s Feasts for the Kingdom rehabilitates the sermon as a true theological genre, to the benefit of both preaching and theology. These sermons are saturated with sophisticated reflection on Scripture and tradition yet are crafted in a way that makes theology accessible and life-giving.”
—Frederick Bauerschmidt, Loyola University Maryland
“From the first time I heard Fr. Khaled’s preaching, I always wanted to be able to savor this gift and return to his words. It is a delight that these homilies are appearing in print at last. The voice within these pages addresses needs of our times with pastoral sensitivity and situational particularity, ordered by the liturgical rhythm of the Byzantine church. At the same time, the homilies are composed with a deep, sonorous familiarity with Scripture as a way of thinking, speaking, and living in intimacy with Christ through the Holy Spirit in the sight of the Father. Their distinctive grace is at once to echo and to renew the patristic tradition; they offer a model for prayerful expression of godly love within a modern ecumenical ecclesia.”
—Jane Heath, Durham University
“In our broken world, in the midst of personal sin and social sin, in the midst of suffering and death, we need salvation. But even many Christians—all too often including myself—have forgotten what ‘salvation’ might mean, beyond the simple desire for health and prosperity. What Fr. Anatolios does in these sermons is to reintroduce, step by step, what salvation in Christ is and why it is the pearl of great price. These beneficent sermons are an invitation to enter into the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of salvation, here and now.”
—Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary
“This volume of sermons on the major feasts of the Byzantine liturgical tradition is itself a feast of words that will nourish and sustain any readers fortunate enough to enjoy its bounties, whether they are pastors looking to serve a richer banquet to their hungry congregations or lay people eager for greater sustenance in an increasingly undernourished world. Each homily reflects a rare ability to tie the scriptural message not only to the liturgical moment but also to patristic theology and to the larger life of Christian discipleship. The sermons represent the triumph of showing how the patristic model of preaching offers a valuable mode of speaking to modern believers.”
—George Parsenios, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Khaled Anatolios is John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church that has its roots in the Arabic- speaking Middle East and is in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. His previous publications include Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine and Deification through the Cross: An Eastern Christian Theology of Salvation.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Cornelius Plantinga
Preface
Acknowledgments
Byzantine Liturgical New Year
1. Christ, our Today
2. Christ, our Beginning
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
3. The Lure of the Cross
4. The Cross and the Happiness of God
5. Boasting in the Cross of Christ
The Theotokos Enters the Temple
6. Mary’s Self-Dedication to the Lord
Christmas Season
7. A Crippled Humanity Awaits Its Salvation
8. How to Excuse Yourself from the Kingdom of God
9. The Dismal Failure and Unimaginable Success of the Human Race
10. The Birthday of God
Theophany
11. Baptism into Trinitarian Life
12. The Manifestation of Christian Glory
13. Let Us Baptize Christ!
Lent, Part 1
14. The Iconography of Christian Discipleship
15. Guilelessness and Being Beguiled by God
Feast of the Annunciation
16. Mary, Our Guide to a Lent “Full of Grace”
Lent, Part 2
17. Last Sunday before Covid Shutdown
18. Drinking from the Cup of Christ
Palm Sunday
19.The Human Judgment of God
20. Why the Donkey?
21. The Joy of Christ
Great and Holy Friday
22. Loving the Compassion of Christ
23. God’s Falling in Love
24. Saved by a Broken Heart
25. The New Song of the Cross
Easter Vigil
26. Life Unmixed
27. He Is Not Here, He Is Risen
28. Be Realistic, Christ Is Risen!
Easter Season
29. The Peace of the Resurrection
Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
30. Only Love Can See the Risen Lord
31. Our Life’s Ultimate Goal: Loving Christ
Ascension
32. We Have Our Hearts with God
Pentecost
33. Unwrap the Gift of the Spirit
34. The Difference the Spirit Makes
Transfiguration
35. The Glory of Christ in His and Our Suffering
Dormition
36. Mary, Exemplar of the Glory of Our Humanity
37. Becoming Mothers of God
Election Homily
38. Voting in Christ: Evangelical Counsel before a Federal Election
Funeral Homilies
39. Who Is David Burnett?
40. In Communion with Gary Knoppers
Wedding Homily
41. The Voice of the Bridegroom and the Voice of the Bride
Index of Scripture