Extra Seriem Margoni

Michael Margoni-Kögler, Die Perikopen im Gottesdienst bei Augustinus. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der liturgischen Schriftlesung in der frühen Kirche. – Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2010.
In view of only poorly preserved primary liturgical sources (e.g. “lectionaries” or simple listings of scriptural readings) of the final period of late antiquity, liturgical-historical research depends almost exclusively on the evaluation of homiletic testimonials. Concerning the North African area they are represented primarily by St. Augustine’s sermons, most of them containing direct or indirect references to one or more of their immediately preceding biblical lessons. Being based on a consciously reflected methodology and making use of elaborated electronic possibilities for systematic research, this study aims at an evaluation of those references carried out for the entire homiletic work of St. Augustine recorded up to now, thereby achieving a considerable enlargement of the hitherto determined spectrum of biblical lessons read in the divine services presided by St. Augustine. The scriptural readings which the analyses prove as secure, (highly) probable or presumable, are questioned with regard to their biblical- and liturgical-theological context as well as to the motivation of their selection. At the same time the proportion between already fixed readings on the one hand and the individual possibility of their choice by the bishop in relation to the specific period of the liturgical year on the other hand is shown. The results are finally placed within the broader framework of comparative liturgical research, thus enlarging the base for further investigation into the rather obscure relations of the North African liturgy to other liturgical families and contributing to a better knowledge of the largely unsettled prerequisites of fixed lectionary systems from the early Middle Ages onwards.