Christian Liturgy is about the "what" and the "why" of Christian communal worship. This book is intended to fill the many gaps that remain outstanding in standard treatments of the nature, purpose, dynamism, and peculiar efficacy of the liturgy.

Christian Liturgy, then, presents a comprehensive theology of Christian liturgy, founded on the ancient traditions of East and West, nourished by valuable insights of Reformation theology, and stimulated by more recent discoveries of forgotten truths. These truths often have remained buried in scholarly publications.

The author integrates into a coherent whole all the major aspects of the ecomomy of salvation that make the liturgy of the Church understandable. These aspects include the Trinity, Christ and his redemptive work, the mission of the Holy Spirit, the Church, the mystery of the human person, grace, faith, prayer, the Word of God, and the finality of material things. Christian Liturgy points the way to a truly ecumenical sacramental theology.

Publisher Comments

Edward J. Kilmartin, S.J., was a native of Portland, Maine. Until his death in 1994, he was Professor of Liturgical Theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. From 1958 to 1974, he was Professor of Sacramental Theology at Weston College School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

From 1974 to 1984, he was Professor and Director of the Doctoral Program in Liturgical Studies at the University of Notre Dame. During this time, he coordinated course work in liturgy, upgraded the library's holdings, and personally directed several doctoral dissertations.

He also served as executive secretary of the U.S. Bishops' Conference Committee for Dialogue with the Orthodox Church. He was the 1978 recipient of the John Courtney Murray Award, for distinguished achievement in theology, from the Catholic Theological Society of America. In 1994, he received the Berakah Award from the North American Academy of Liturgy.