Digital Verbum Edition
This volume traces the history of liturgy from its origins in the second century to the present-day Church. Written by one of the foremost liturgical scholars, Father Keith Pecklers, this exceptional book is a geography of Christianity, analyzed period by period. It is an anthropological history of the Church that involves relationships with architecture, art, literature, culture, pastoral and ecclesiastical government—as well as with its connections with the civil power and the organization of society. Liturgy: The Illustrated History is a bridge among various disciplines, and its illustrative documentation ranges from architecture to music, from politics to linguistic cartographies, and from ecclesiastic to monastic history. It features a colorful design and a vast array of extraordinary illustrations and maps in full color. This volume is sure to appeal to lovers of history as well as liturgy professionals.
“Gradually, liturgy came to signify both service of God and the service of the community offering an early clue to understanding the integral relationship between liturgy and Christian charity or what will later become the relationship of liturgy and mission—the service of God’s world.” (Page 7)
“Christian Liturgy, then, is ultimately about praising and thanking God as we recall God’s mighty deeds and as we come to rediscover our own membership within Christ’s mystical body in the world, enabling us to look upon God’s world with God’s eyes.” (Page 11)
“Christians gave new interpretations to these rituals and acts for its own purposes.” (Page 7)
“Christians of the East are far ahead of their Christian counterparts in their use of the body with numerous processions and prostrations, as well as a fuller use of symbols that open worshippers to the mystical and transcendent.” (Page 9)
“described the goal of liturgy as the glorification of God and the sanctification of the liturgical assembly” (Page 8)