Evangelielæsningens placering og funktion i dansk højmesseordning

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines the place of the Gospel reading and the Creed in Danish liturgy. In the first centuries after the Reformation, the Gospel was sung from the altar followed by the Creed, normally a Danish hymn. The Gospel was read once more from the pulpit before the sermon. In the 19th century, the Gospel was often only read from the pulpit in connection with the sermon and the Creed gradually disappeared. At the end of the 19th century, a new lectionary was introduced with two years and two different Gospel readings: the first from the altar, the second from the pulpit as the text for the sermon. In the middle of the 20th century, the Creed was reinstated after the Gospel from the altar, but now as the Apostles’ Creed. In 1992, the Danish Church got a new Service Book with three biblical readings: Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel. Here the Gospel is normally read from the pulpit and the Apostles’ Creed read or sung from the altar after the Epistle.