1. EARLY CHRISTIAN WORSHIP: SURVEYS

 

Paul F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Study of the Early Liturgy, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) paperback, $21.  This new revised edition offers an excellent set of essays on the difficulties of piecing together the shape of early Christian worship.  Vital for anyone wanting to understand how to study liturgy.

 

Paul F. Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship: A Basic Introduction to Ideas and Practice (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000) paperback, $15.

Everett Ferguson, ed., Worship in Early Christianity, Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays, vol. 15 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993).

Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold, Paul Bradshaw, eds. The Study of Liturgy, rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) paperback, $43.

Theodore Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979) paperback, $24.

Marcel Metzger, History of the Liturgy: The Major Stages, trans. Madeleine Beaumont (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1997) paperback, $17.

Kenneth W. Stevenson, The First Rites: Worship in the Early Church (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1989) paperback.  Very simple introduction.

Robert F. Taft, The Byzantine Liturgy: A Short History (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992) paperback.

Herman Wegman, Christian Worship in East and West: A Study Guide to Liturgical History, trans. Gordon W. Lathrop (New York: Pueblo, 1985 / Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press) paperback.

 

 2. BAPTISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH: STUDIES

 

Maxwell E. Johnson, The Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999) paperback, $40.  The most important survey currently available tracing the history of Christian initiation.  About 1/3 of the book is devoted to the rites of baptism during the Patristic era.  A fine place to start.

 

Paul F. Bradshaw, ed., Essays in Early Eastern Initiation, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 8, Grove Liturgical Study #56  (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books Limited, 1988).

Juliette Day, The Baptismal Liturgy of Jerusalem: Fourth- and Fifth-Century Evidence from Palestine, Syria, and Egypt (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007) hardcover, $99.  NEW.

Phillippe De Roten, Baptême et mystagogie: Enquête sur l’initiation chrétienne selon s. Jean Chrysostome, Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 91 (Münster: Germany: Aschendorff, 2005) hardcover, €67.

Alexis J. Doval, Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogue: The Authorship of the Mystagogic Catecheses, Patristic Monograph Series, vol. 17 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001) hardcover, $50.

Alexis J. Doval, “The Location and Structure of the Baptistery in the Mystagogic Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem,” Studia Patristica 25, ed. Elizabeth A. Livingstone (Leuven: Peeters, 1993) 1-13.

J. W. Drijvers, Cyril of Jerusalem: Bishop and City, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae72 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004) hardcover.

Everett Ferguson, ed., Conversion, Catechumenate, and Baptism in the Early Church, Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays, vol. 11 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993) hardcover, $60.

Thomas M. Finn, From Death to Rebirth: Ritual and Conversion in Antiquity (New York: Paulist Press, 1997) paperback, $20.

Thomas M. Finn, The Liturgy of Baptism in the Baptismal Instructions of St. John Chrysostom, Studies in Christian Antiquity 15 (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1967).

Thomas M. Finn, “Ritual Process and the Survival of Early Christianity: A Study of the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus,” Journal of Religious Studies 3 (1989) 68-89.

William Harmless, Augustine and the Catechumenate (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press [A Pueblo Book], 1995) paperback, $35.

Maxwell E. Johnson, ed., Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on Christian Initiation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995) paperback, $40.  An important set of essays, some relevant to the Patristic era.

Aidan Kavanagh, Confirmation: Origins and Reform (New York: Pueblo, 1988 / Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press).  A provocative reconstruction of the origins, well-written.

Kilian McDonnell and George T. Montague, Christian Initiation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Evidence from the First Eight Centuries (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press [A Michael Glazier Book], 1991) paperback, $35.

Kilian McDonnell, The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan: The Trinitarian and Cosmic Order of Salvation (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press [A Michael Glazier Book], 1996) paperback, $25.

L.L. Mitchell, “Ambrosian Baptismal Rites,” Studia Liturgica (1962) 241-253; reprinted in Worship: Initiation and the Churches (Washington: Pastoral Press, 1991) 75-89.

Craig A. Satterlee, Ambrose of Milan’s Method of Mystagogical Preaching (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002) paperback, $35.

Bryan D. Spinks, Early and Medieval Rituals and Theologies of Baptism: From the New Testament to the Council of Trent, Liturgy, Worship and Society (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006) paperback, $30.  NEW.

Huub Van de Sandt & Davis Flusser, The Didache: Its Jewish Sources and Its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002) hardcover, $58.

Gabriele Winkler, Studies in Early Christian Liturgy and Its Context, Variorum Collected Studies 593 (Brookfield, VT: 1997).  A collection of important essays.

 

 3. BAPTISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH: TEXTS

 

Thomas Finn, Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate, Message of the Fathers, vol. 5: West and East Syria and vol. 6: Italy, North Africa, Egypt (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992) paperback, $18 per volume. A comprehensive anthology on the ancient catechumenate.  A gold-mine of material: mystagogical catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Ambrose, Augustine; the eyewitness descriptions of Egeria; excerpts from church orders—the Didache, Didiscalia, and the Ordo of Constantinople; baptismal lyrics from the greatest of the ancient Christian poets, Ephrem the Syrian.

 

Edward Yarnold, Cyril of Jerusalem, Early Church Fathers (New York: Routledge, 2000) paperback, $26.  Cyril was perhaps the most important liturgical theologian of the early Church.  This volume offers a new translation of his Mystagogical Catecheses, his Procatechesis, and a number of his Lenten Catecheses.  Yarnold prefaces this with a long introduction exploring 4th-century Jerusalem, as well as Cyril’s life and theology.

 

Paul Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson, & L. Edward Phillips, ed., The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, Hermeneia Series (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002) hardcover, $47.  The Apostolic Tradition, a text long thought to come from the pen of the 3rd-century Roman presbyter Hippolytus, has profoundly influenced liturgical reforms in the 20th century.  This new commentary traces out the complex text history of the document and challenges the Hippolytan authorship.

 

Thomas M. Finn, Quodvultdeus of Carthage: The Creedal Homilies: Conversion in Fifth-Century North Africa, Ancient Christian Writers 60 (New York: Newman Press / Paulist Press, 2004) hardcover.

Aaron Milavec, The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2004) paperback, $10.

Kurt Niederwimmer, The Didache: A Commentary, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998) hardcover, $52.  A verse-by-verse commentary; part of a highly respected biblical commentary series.

David N. Power, Irenaeus of Lyons on Baptism and Eucharist: Selected Texts, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 18, Grove Liturgical Study #65 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1991).

Alistar Stewart-Sykes, trans., Hippolytus: On the Apostolic Tradition (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001) paperback, $15.  Includes a lengthy commentary—a different view from Bradshaw et al.

E.C. Whitaker, Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy, 3^rd ed., ed. Maxwell Johnson (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003) paperback, $40.  At last, a classic revised and back in print.

Edward Yarnold, The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation: the Origins of the RCIA, second edition (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1994) paperback, $15.

 

 4. EUCHARIST IN THE EARLY CHURCH: STUDIES

 

Alan Bouley, From Freedom to Formula: The Evolution of the Eucharistic Prayer from Oral Improvisation to Written Texts, Studies in Christian Antiquity 21 (Washington: Catholic University of America, 1981).

Paul F. Bradshaw, Eucharistic Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $19.

Paul F. Bradshaw, ed., Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press [A Pueblo Book], 1997) paperback.

Paul F. Bradshaw, Liturgical Presidency in the Early Church, Grove Liturgical Study #36 (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books, 1983).

Colin Buchanan, Essays on Eucharistic Sacrifice in the Early Church, Grove Liturgical Study #40 (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books, 1984).

Geoffrey J. Cuming, The Liturgy of St. Mark, Orientalia Christiana Analecta #234 (Rome: Edizioni Orientalia Christiana, 1990).

Emmanuel J. Cutrone, “The Anaphora of the Apostles: Implications of the Mar Esa’ya Text,” Theological Studies 34 (1973) 624-642.

Emmanuel J. Cutrone, “Cyril’s Mystagogical Catecheses and the Evolution of the Jerusalem Anaphora,” Orientalia Christiana Periodica 44 (1978) 52-64.

Emmanuel J. Cutrone, “The Lord’s Prayer and the Eucharist: The Syrian Tradition,” Eulogema: Studies in Honor of Robert Taft, S.J., Studia Anselmiana 110 (Roma, 1993) 93-106.

Emmanuel J. Cutrone, “Prayers over the Cup: Witness of Early Documents,” in Tuvaik: Studies in Honour of Revd. Dr. Jacob Vellian, Syrian Churches Series 16 (Kottayam, 1995).

Emmanuel J. Cutrone, “The Liturgical Setting of the Institution Narrative in the East Syrian Tradition,” in Time and Community, ed. J. Neil Alexander (Washington, DC: Pastoral Press, 1990) 105-114.

Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (London, 1945).  One of the classics of the century that contributed much to the Vatican II return to patristic liturgy as model.

John Fenwick, ed., ‘The Missing Oblation’: The Contents of the Early Antiochene Anaphora, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 11, Grove Liturgical Study #59 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1989).

John Fenwick, Fourth Century Anaphoral Construction Techniques, Grove Liturgical Study #45 (Bramcote: Grove Books, 1986).

John R.K. Fenwick, The Anaphoras of St. Basil and St. James: An Investigation into Their Common Origin, Orientalia Christiana Analecta #240 (Rome: Edizioni Orientalia Christiana, 1992).

Anthony Gelston, The Eucharistic Prayer of Addai and Mari (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992) hardcover, $60.

Raymond Johanny, ed., The Eucharist of the Early Christians (New York: Pueblo, 1978 / Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press) paperback, $20.  Still one of the best surveys.

Maxwell E. Johnson, The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis: A Literary, Liturgical, and Theological Analysis, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 249 (Rome: Pontificio Instituto Orientale, 1995) paperback, $20.

Josef Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite, trans. Francis A. Brunner (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1959).  Dated, but a classic; a goldmine of information.

Eugene LaVerdiere, The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press [A Pueblo Book], 1996) paperback, $20.

Enrico Mazza, The Origins of the Eucharistic Prayer, trans. Ronald Lane (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press [A Pueblo Book], 1995) paperback, $20.

Enrico Mazza, The Celebration of the Eucharist: The Origin of the Rite and the Development of Its Interpretation, trans. Matthew J. O’Connell (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999) paperback, $40.

Andrew McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) hardcover.

Dennis E. Smith, From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003) paperback, $25.

Bryan D. Spinks, Mar Nestorius and Mar Theodore the Interpreter: The Forgotten Eucharistic Prayers of East Syria, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 45 (Cambridge: Grove Books, 1999).

Rowan D. Williams, Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Roots of a Metaphor, Grove Liturgical Study 31 (Bramcote: Grove Press Limited, 1982).

 

 5. THE EUCHARIST IN THE EARLY CHURCH: TEXTS

 

R.C.D. Jasper and Geoffrey C. Cuming, eds., Prayers of the Eucharist: Early and Reformed, 3^rd ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1989) paperback, $22.  The basic collection of eucharistic prayers through the ages.  Essential for study of the early rites.

 

Daniel J. Sheerin, ed., The Eucharist, Message of the Fathers 7 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1986).  The eucharist was not the focus of doctrinal debate in the early church.  So discussions of eucharistic theology are best found in the mystagogical sermons, given to newly baptized during Easter Week.  Sheerin gives a good selection of these early catecheses, including ones from Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose, and Augustine.

 

R.J.S. Barrett-Lennard, ed., The Sacramentary of Sarapion of Thmuis: A Text for Students, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 25 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1993).

Paul Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson, & L. Edward Phillips, ed., The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, Hermeneia Series (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002) hardcover, $47.

Paul F. Bradshaw, ed., The Canons of Hippolytus, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 2, Grove Liturgical Study #50 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1987).

Sebastian Brock and Michael Vasey, trans., The Liturgical Portions of the Didascalia, Grove Liturgical Study #29 (Bramcote: Grove Books, 198_).

Geoffrey J. Cuming, ed., Hippolytus: A Text for Students, Grove Liturgical Study #8 (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books, 1976).

W. Jardine Grisbrooke, ed., The Liturgical Portions of the Apostolic Constitutions: A Text for Students, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 13-14, Grove Liturgical Study #61 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1990).

Kurt Niederwimmer, The Didache: A Commentary, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998) hardcover, $52.  A verse-by-verse commentary; part of an excellent biblical commentary series.

David N. Power, Irenaeus of Lyons on Baptism and Eucharist: Selected Texts, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 18, Grove Liturgical Study #65 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1991).

Grant Sperry-White, The Testamentum Domini: A Text for Students, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 19, Grove Liturgical Study #66 (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books Limited, 1991).

Bryan Spinks, Addai and Mari: A Text for Students, Grove Liturgical Study #24 (Bramcote: Grove Books, 1980).

Alistair Stewart-Sykes, ed., Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen: On the Lord’s Prayer, Popular Patristic Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2004) paperback, $12.

 

 6. OTHER LITURGICAL RITES: TEXTS & STUDIES

 

Paul F. Bradshaw, Ordination Rites of the Ancient Churches of East and West (New York: Pueblo, 1990 / Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press) paperback.

Paul F. Bradshaw, Daily Prayer in the Early Church: A Study of the Origin and Early Development of the Divine Office (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982).

James Dallen, The Reconciling Community: The Rite of Penance (New York: Pueblo, 1986 / Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press).  Valuable chapters on Cyprian and public penance.

Joseph A. Favazza, The Order of Penitents: Historical Roots and Pastoral Future (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1988) paperback.

Kenan B. Osborne, Reconciliation and Justification: The Sacrament and Its Theology (New York: Paulist Press, 1990).

Philip Lyndon Reynolds, Marriage in the Western Church: The Christianization of Marriage During the Patristic and Early Medieval Periods (Leiden: Brill, 2002) paperback, $40.

Alistair Stewart-Sykes, ed., Early Jewish Liturgy: A Sourcebook for Use by Students of the Early Liturgy, Joint Liturgical Studies 51 (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2001).

Robert F. Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West: The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning Today, 2nd ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1986) paperback, $25.

 

 7. ART, ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC & THE LITURGICAL YEAR

 

Robin Margaret Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art (New York: Routledge, 2000) paperback, $26.  A valuable recent introduction to the world of early Christian art and architecture, written with a fine sensitivity to the underlying theologies at work.

 

J.R. Elsner, Imperial Rome & Christian Triumph; The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) paperback, $16.

Everett Ferguson, ed., Art, Archaeology and Architecture of Early Christianity, Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays, vol. 18 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993) hardcover, $60.

Paul Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $18.

Edward Foley, Foundations of Christian Music: The Music of Pre-Constantinian Christianity Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study #23-24 (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books Limited, 1992). 

John Lowden, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (London: Phaidon, 1997) paperback, $23.

Gerhard Ladner, God, Cosmos, and Humankind: The World of Early Christian Symbolism (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1995) hardcover, $45.

Robert Milburn, Early Christian Art & Architecture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).  Rather technical.

Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (New York: Pueblo, 1986 / Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press) paperback, $30.

L. Michael White, Building God’s House in the Roman World: Architectural Adaptation among Pagans, Jews, and Christians (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1990).

Mahmoud Zibawi, Eastern Christian Worlds (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996) hardcover, $90.

 

 8. LOCAL CHURCHES & RITES

 

Cesare Alzati, Ambrosianum Mysterium: The Church of Milan and Its Liturgical Tradition, trans. George Guiver Alcuin / GROW Liturgical 44 (Cambridge: Grove Books, 1999).

John F. Baldovin, Liturgy in Ancient Jerusalem, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 9, Grove Liturgical Study #57 (Bramcote Nottingham: Grove Books Limited, 1989).

Gordon P. Jeanes, ed., The Origins of the Roman Rite, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 20, Grove Liturgical Study #67 (Bramcote: Grove Books Limited, 1991).

Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals: Topography & Politics, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) paperback, $18.

 

 9. SAINTS, PILGRIMS, THE MILLENNIUM & OTHER TOPICS

 

Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1981) paperback, $13.  Brown shatters the widespread view that the Catholic veneration of the saints was a form of paganism that crept in the back door, or that the Church had somehow succumbed to popular religion.  He shows how the rise of interest in the saints stemmed from the Christian belief in the resurrection and from the patronage system of the late Roman Empire.

 

Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity, Transformation of the Classical Heritage (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005) hardcover, $45.

Caroline Walker Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336, Lectures on the History of Religions 15 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995) paperback.

Brian E. Daley, Hope of the Early Church: a Handbook of Patristic Eschatology (reprint of 1991 edition: Hendrickson, 2003) paperback, $25.

Brian E. Daley, trans., On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998) paperback, $14.

Maribel Dietz, Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims: Ascetic Travel in the Mediterranean World, A.D. 300-800 (Penn State University Press, 2005) hardcover, $50.

Jas' Elsner & Ian Rutherford, eds., Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Antiquity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) NEW in paperback, $50.

W.H.C. Frend, The Archeology of Early Christianity: a History (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1996) paperback, $20.

Robert M. Grant, Early Christians and Animals (New York: Routledge, 1999) hardcover, $75.

Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olefactory Imagination , Transformation of the Classical Heritage 42 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006) hardcover, $45.  NEW.

Charles E. Hill, Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity, 2^nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001) paperback, $32.

James Howard-Johnston & Paul Antony Hayward, The Cult of the Saints in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Contribution of Peter Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $25.

E.D. Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire A.D. 312-460 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982).

Andrew S. Jacobs, Remains of the Jews: The Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity, Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004) hardcover.

R.A. Markus, “How on Earth Could Places Become Holy?  Origins of the Christian Idea of Holy Places,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 2 (1994) 257-271.

Stephen J. Shoemaker, The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption and Dormition, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) hardcover, $120.

Jeffrey A. Trumbower, Rescue for the Dead: The Posthumous Salvation of Non-Christians in Early Christianity, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) hardcover, $45.

Carolinne White, Christian Friendship in the Fourth Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992) paperback, $33.

Robert L. Wilken, The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History & Thought (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992) paperback, $18.

John Wilkinson, Egeria’s Travels (reprint: Aris & Phillips, 1999) paperback, $30.