ILS 2024

Creation, Not Commodity: the Church’s Liturgy in a Consumer Culture

April 9-11, 2024

Consumer or market culture’s role in our lives is so ubiquitous that we frequently fail to recognize its presence and influence over us. Even committed church folk will talk about “church shopping” when they move to a new location. 

We live in a consumer culture in which our collective and personal economic well-being depends on our shared habits of material consumption. Those in ministry know that the market economy driving this consumption – with its emphasis on personal choice – impacts how the local congregation positions itself within its ministry context or fails to do so. 

In its 75th year, the Institute of Liturgical Studies will turn its attention to this phenomenon.

We will seek to understand better the ways in which consumer culture impacts liturgical life. How might that impact be countered through careful curating of the church’s liturgical theology? We will also be seeking practical guidance for what we, as church practitioners, might learn positively from those who work to drive consumer desires in the marketplace.

Join us at Valparaiso University, April 9 – 11, 2024 for “Creation, Not Commodity: the Church’s Liturgy in a Consumer Culture”