The Origins of Feasts, Fasts, and Seasons in Early Christianity


Book Description

The liturgical year is a relatively modern invention. The term itself only came into use in the late sixteenth century. In antiquity, Christians did not view the various festivals and fasts that they experienced as a unified whole. Instead, the different seasons formed a number of completely unrelated cycles and tended to overlap and conflict with one another. In early Christianity, the fundamental cycle was that of the seven-day week. Taken over from Judaism by the first Christians, this was centered on Sunday rather than the sabbath. As the early Church established its identity, the days of the week set aside for fasting came to be different from those customary among the Jews. There also existed an annual cycle related to Easter. Drawing upon the latest research, the authors track the development of the Church's feasts, fasts, and seasons, including the sabbath and Sunday, Holy Week and Easter, Christmas and Epiphany, and the feasts of the Virgin Mary, the martyrs, and other saints.




The Origins of the Liturgical Year


Book Description

In this definitive work, Thomas Talley draws on al the resources of historical scholarship to examine and unravel the complications brought to liturgical time by the blending of local traditions. Liturgical time, like al ecclesiastical structures, has interacted with other traditions since the early centuries. Yet Doctor Talley found that the gospel tradition and its liturgical employment shaped the period that comprises the liturgical year. His findings illustrate for the reader that every festival the Church celebrates - very Sunday - is centered primarily and finally in the Eucharist, which from the beginning and always proclaims the Lord's death until he comes.




Rose Guide to the Feasts, Festivals and Fasts of the Bible


Book Description

Packed with dozens of charts, maps, and timelines, over 150 illustrations and photographs, and easy-to-understand summaries, this full-color, reproducible book on the feasts and celebrations of the Bible will help you understand key information at a glance! Passover. Yom Kippur. Feast of Tabernacles. Rosh Hashanah. With all the ceremonies, festivals, and observances in the Bible, it’s hard to keep track of them all and remember why they’re important to our faith! But what if you could distill all this key information across dozens of chapters of the Bible into one solid, easy-to-read handbook with images, charts, and diagrams? It’s never been easier to get an expert look at the traditions, fasts, and feasts of the Bible: with this guide, 5 leading authorities on biblical celebrations and disciplines will help condense their research and historical knowledge into key takeaways that you can learn quickly and easily: Solid overviews of the feasts, celebrations, and rituals kept in ancient Israel and the Old TestamentHistorical background of the feasts and holy days in the centuries leading up to the New TestamentSummary of modern-day traditions kept by Jews todayKey takeaways of how messianic communities observe biblical feasts and holidays todayPresentation of how non-messianic Christian congregations have adopted the feasts into liturgies, theologies, etc. God commanded Moses and the children of Israel to observe feasts and holy days as memorials to the great things that he had done in their lives. With expert research, clearly understand how these times of celebration are important to help us better see God’s complete picture and plan of redemption.




Documents of Christian Worship


Book Description

A resource for everyone engaged in studying and teaching the forms and meaning of Christian worship. Praise for Documents of Christian Worship: "A treasure trove of primary sources, from many Christian traditions, this book contributes to the study and renewal of worship by allowing readers to hear what Christians of the past said they expereinced in worship." --Ruth C. Dick, Professor of Worship, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. "Documents of Christian Worship belongs in Christian libraries




The Early Christians


Book Description

Reveals the diversity and strangeness of early Christianity as seen by non-Christian contemporaries and by the modern world.




Daily Prayer in the Early Church


Book Description

'In liturgical study, and especially in English liturgical study, the subject of the daily office has always been something of the poor relation', writes the author in his preface. This volume aims to do something to fill that gap. It begins with a detailed examination of the Jewish background and of the practice of daily prayer in the first three centuries of the Church, and goes on to trace the evolution of the divine office in both its monastic and secular forms in East and West down to the time of St. Benedict. Intended as a replacement forThe Influence of the Synagogue upon the Divine Officeby C. W. Dugmore (Alcuin Club Collection No. 45), it not only incorporates the results of recent research by continental scholars and others but also challenges traditional assumptions at a number of important points, offering a fresh interpretation of the evidence.




Rituals in Early Christianity


Book Description

Informed by the paradigmatic shift in ritual and liturgical studies, this volume offers analyses of key ritual traditions in early Christianity. The case studies focus on the dynamic formation and transformation of rituals in the context of Greco-Roman religion, Judaism, and Islam.




T&T Clark Handbook of the Early Church


Book Description

Exploring the key documents, authors and themes of Early Christian traditions, this volume traces the vital trajectories of emerging distinctive Christian identity in the Graeco-Roman world. Special attention is given to the coherent growth of Christian faith in connection with worship, alongside the crucial transformation of Christian life and doctrine under the Christian Emperors. As well as offering a chronological development of the Early Church, the book examines the interaction between Christian worship and faith. In addition, readers interested in systematic theology can refer to chapters on the roots of some significant theological notions in Christian Antiquity, also with reference to ancient philosophy. Issues addressed include: · Distinctiveness of the Christian identity during the first centuries · Diversity of communities and their theologies · Connection between faith and worship · Transition from the persecuted minority to triumphant Church with Creeds · History of early Christian thought and modern systematic theology




The Early Christian World


Book Description

Since its publication in 2000, The Early Christian World has come to be regarded by scholars, students and the general reader as one of the most informative and accessible works in English on the origins, development, character and major figures of early Christianity. In this new edition, the strengths of the first edition are retained. These include the book’s attractive architecture that initially takes a reader through the context and historical development of early Christianity; the essays in critical areas such as community formation, everyday experience, the intellectual and artistic heritage, and external and internal challenges; and the profiles on the most influential early Christian figures. The book also preserves its strong stress on the social reality of early Christianity and continues its distinctive use of hundreds of illustrations and maps to bring that world to life. Yet the years that have passed since the first edition was published have seen great advances made in our understanding of early Christianity in its world. This new edition fully reflects these developments and provides the reader with authoritative, lively and up-to-date access to the early Christian world. A quarter of the text is entirely new and the remaining essays have all been carefully revised and updated by their authors. Some of the new material relates to Christian culture (including book culture, canonical and non-canonical scriptures, saints and hagiography, and translation across cultures). But there are also new essays on: Jewish and Christian interaction in the early centuries; ritual; the New Testament in Roman Britain; Manichaeism; Pachomius the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. This new edition will serve its readers for many years to come.




Rites of Ordination


Book Description

"A Pueblo book."Includes index. Includes bibliographical references and index. Table of Contents: Historical and typological background -- Ministry in the earliest Christian communities -- Ministry and ordination in the third and fourth centuries -- Early ordination rites -- Ordination rites in the churches of the East -- Ordination rites in the medieval West -- The theology of ordination in the Middle Ages -- Orders and ministry in the churches of the Reformation -- The Roman Catholic Church from the Council of Trent to the present -- Other modern ordination rites.