More than 40 authors from Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Eastern and Western Europe have contributed to the Handbook. Many are professors and graduates of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Each author, while drawing material from liturgical tradition and from ancient, medieval, and modern sources, also writes from a particular research and personal interest in a subject. Although diverse in style, the authors collectively express a spirit of fidelity to the Church, its doctrine and tradition, and its mission. The result is a cohesive view of the meaning, purpose, and celebration of Christian worship. This volume consists of 20 articles: • A Definition of Liturgy by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB • Liturgical Families in the East by Ephrem Carr, OSB • Liturgical Families in the West by Gabriel Ramis • Bible and Liturgy by Renato De Zan • Liturgy and the Fathers by Basil Studer, OSB • Liturgy and Ecumenism by Patrick Lyons, OSB • History of the Liturgy Until the Fourth Century by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB • History of the Eastern Liturgies by Manel Nin, OSB • History of the Roman Liturgy Until the Fifteenth Century by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB • History of the Roman Liturgy from the Sixteenth until the Twentieth Centuries by Keith F. Pecklers, SJ • History of the Liturgies in the Non-Roman West by Jordi Pinell i Pons, OSB • Liturgical Documents of the First Four Centuries by Basil Studer, OSB • Byzantine Liturgical Books by Elena Velkova Velkovska • Other Liturgical Books in the East by Manel Nin, OSB • Liturgical Books of the Roman Rite by Cassian Folsom, OSB • Liturgical Books of the Non-Roman West by Gabriel Ramis • Criticism and Interpretation of Liturgical Texts by Renato De Zan • Liturgical Textual Criticism by Renato De Zan • The Translation of Liturgical Texts by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB • Liturgical Law by Frederick R. McManus
“Indirectly it also refers to the public office one undertakes.” (Page 3)
“The encyclical Mediator Dei, no. 25, defines liturgy as ‘the public worship which our Redeemer as head of the Church renders to the Father, as well as the worship which the community of the faithful renders to its Founder, and through him to the heavenly Father. In short, it is the worship rendered by the Mystical Body of Christ in the entirety of its head and members.” (Page 4)
“The word appeared for the first time in official Latin documents during the pontificate of Gregory XVI (+1846).” (Page 4)
“It is no surpise, then, that as soon as the Pauline Letters and Fourth Gospel were accepted as authoritative, theological reflection was at once dominated by a trinitarian thrust.” (Page 74)
“The Septuagint employs the word λειτουργία as many as 170 times to designate the levitic cult.” (Page 3)