The simple question: 'What is Protestant liturgy?' is easier to pose than to answer. Alexander Deeg takes on this question in the light of major present challenges to Protestant liturgical practice and theory. His answer is that theological and esthetic considerations are always intertwined and indeed condition each other. With this Deeg closes a gap in the ongoing liturgical discussion that is nearly devoid of fundamental considerations.As method he chooses an abductive approach that refuses the one-sided attempt to deduce liturgy from theological references as well as the one-sided attempt to induce the development of liturgy from empirical perceptions. Rather, the author shows that since its beginnings Protestant liturgy has had the task of liturgically framing the 'outer word.' His study approaches the interaction between Word and Cult in historical (four selected stations in the history of Protestant liturgy), comparative (Judaism and Catholicism) and cultural-historical (subject, enactment and dramaturgy) terms, in the end profiling modern Protestant liturgy as 'WordCult': The Cult gives the Word its form, the Word critiques and inspires the Cult. The author´s basic thoughts are presented in a practical manner and are adaptable to the necessities of actual liturgy.

Alexander Deeg, geb. 1972, Professor für Praktische Theologie an der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Leipzig und Leiter des Liturgiewissenschaftlichen Instituts der VELKD. Pfarrer der Evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche in Bayern. Von 2000 bis 2009 Assistent im Fach Praktische Theologie am Lehrstuhl von Martin Nicol. Gemeinsame Weiterarbeit an der Dramaturgischen Homiletik. 2005 Promotion mit einer Arbeit zur Predigt im jüdisch-christlichen Dialog. 2011 Habilitation mit fundamentalliturgischen Überlegungen zum evangelischen Gottesdienst. 2009 bis 2011 Leiter des Zentrums für evangelische Predigtkultur der EKD. Seit 2011 Lehrstuhl für Praktische Theologie in Leipzig. Vorsitzender des Liturgischen Ausschusses der VELKD. International Secretary der Societas Homiletica. Schriftleiter der Göttinger Predigtmeditationen.