In his The Liturgy of Creation, Michael LeFebvre takes his readers on a guided tour of Israel’s calendar that is as illuminating as it is stimulating. He writes for an audience of scholars and informed laypeople. His own congregation is never far from his mind, though, and this concern comes across as he reflects on the constructive implications of his proposal.
Two arguments drive the three parts of the book. In parts 1 and 2 (“Israel’s Calendars” and “Festivals and their Stories,” respectively) LeFebvre argues for the liturgical, rather than the historical, significance of dated events in the Pentateuch. That is, “the dates are not serving the chronology of history but the cadence of worship” (p. 93). LeFebvre argues, for example, that the flood account is dated using a schematic (30-day) calendar month, which would not be used to date events in history but for approximating time...
