In this book John Henson suggests that by basing our practice and understanding of "communion" on the event of the Last Supper we have ignored those other occasions when Jesus ate and drank with the people of his day, with the result that we have reversed the intentions of Jesus. Instead of the meal being an invitation to inclusion, the churches have used it as a means of exclusion; instead of the "beanfeast of the Kingdom" it has become a gathering around the cenotaph. In these studies Christians are challenged to return to the mind of Jesus by allowing all the evidence of the gospels to be put into the balance. Although the author's prime purpose is devotional, there are revolutionary implications. Should the churches take the contents of this book seriously, communion will never be the same again.

What do you do when your whole spiritual life falls apart? It is in these heart-hungry moments--when we feel overwhelmed or alone, struggle with unanswered prayers, aren't sure what to do, or are crying out for God's help--that we are surprisingly poised to pray the most effective kinds of prayers possible. "Extreme Prayer" taps into that longing for connection with God when we need it most by teaching us to pray the kinds of prayers Jesus promised to answer with unlimited power. It's not about how to pray "more" . . . it's about praying "differently," and intentionally tapping into all of Jesus's open-ended promises in a way that achieves maximum Kingdom impact. In "Extreme Prayer," Greg Pruett searches the Scriptures to discover the kinds of prayers that God has promised to answer, challenging you to access their power and see His immeasurable glory unleashed in your prayer life.

This breviary was printed by Antonius Goin at Antwerp in September 1537; the first recension appeared in 1535, but the second is the forerunner of over a hundred subsequent editions before it was suppressed in 1558 by Pope Paul IV. It influenced Cranmer's liturgical projects, for which see volume 50 in the present series.

How does Christian ethics begin? This pioneering study explores the grammar of the Christian life as it is embodied and learned in worship as the formative experience of the 'fellow citizens of God's people'. The book presents the first in-depth theological investigation of the phenomenon of 'political worship' by exposing the political nature of worship and the worship dimension of politics. In a careful analysis of biblical and traditional conceptions of worship, Wannenwetsch demonstrates how the genuine political character of worship neutralizes attempts to politicize or de-politicize it. In the imprinting of the experience of divine reconciliation on the Christian body, worship challenges the deepest antagonisms of political theory and practice: antagonisms of 'private and public', 'freedom and necessity', and 'action and contemplation'. At the same time, the 'spill over' of worship into every sphere of life instils a healthy suspicion of post-liberal conceptualizations of role-mobility. In the experience of 'hearing in communion', an encounter with a word that does not deceive announces the end of the rule of the hermeneutics of suspicion. Further questions discussed include the conditions of true consensus, forgiveness as a political virtue, `political rhetoric' between accountability and self-justification, how 'reversible role-taking' can avoid losing the otherness of the other, and how the rhetoric of 'responsibility' can be saved from hubris or depression. Particular practices or dimensions of worship (confession, preaching, praising, intercession, observance of holy days) are examined and their heuristic and formative potentials explored in relation to these topics. A special feature of the study is a strong ecumenical and international focus. The book brings into conversation a variety of traditions (including Lutheran, Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox) and contemporary voices. An original contribution to Christian ethics, the book addresses systematic and practical theology as well as political theory, while indicating the essential interpenetration of these disciplines.

The Henry Bradshaw Society was established in 1890 in commemoration of Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian in Cambridge and a distinguished authority on early medieval manuscripts and liturgies, who died in 1886. The Society was founded 'for the editing of rare liturgical texts'; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the sixteenth (in effect, from the earliest surviving Christian books until the Reformation). Liturgy was at the heart of Christian worship, and during the medieval period the Christian Church was at the heart of Western society. Study of medieval Christianity in its manifold aspects - historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological - inevitably involves study of its rites, and for that reason Henry Bradshaw Society publications have become standard source-books for an understanding of all aspects of the middle ages. Moreover, many of the Society's publications have been facsimile editions, and these facsimiles have become cornerstones of the science of palaeography. The society was founded for the editing of rare liturgical texts; its principal focus is on the Western (Latin) Church and its rites, and on the medieval period in particular, from the sixth century to the Reformation. Study of medieval Christianity - at the heart of Western society - inevitably involves study of its rites, and the society's publications are essential to an understanding of all aspects (historical, ecclesiastical, spiritual, sociological) of the middle ages.

An Annotated Anthology of Hymns treats the hymn as a literary form deserving of respect. 250 hymns from the English-speaking world are printed, covering the range from the earliest years of the Christian church to the present day, with notes on the words and the tunes. The anthology takes the hymn seriously, in an an age in which hymn-singing is less common than it was. It should appeal to hymn-lovers, but also to those who want to find out more about hymns.

Eric Milner-White and G.W.Briggs: Daily Prayer, first published in 1941, was the classic prayer anthology for a whole generation of Christians. Using that book as his framework, Frank Topping has created a new anthology which reflects the concerns and the spirituality of Christians in the twenty-first century. It is a superb resource which will enrich both in public worship and private devotion.

Daily Prayer is structured round the days of the week, and the church's year. It includes familiar and new prayers, meditations, prayers from scripture, collects from the lectionaries of different denominations, and extracts from spiritual classics. The language throughout is in line with the best modern liturgy.

The Church of Jerusalem, the 'mother of the churches of God', influenced all of Christendom before it underwent multiple captivities between the eighth and thirteenth centuries: first, political subjugation to Arab Islamic forces, then displacement of Greek-praying Christians by Crusaders, and finally ritual assimilation to fellow Orthodox Byzantines in Constantinople. All three contributed to the phenomenon of the Byzantinization of Jerusalem's liturgy, but only the last explains how it was completely lost and replaced by the liturgy of the imperial capital, Constantinople. The sources for this study are rediscovered manuscripts of Jerusalem's liturgical calendar and lectionary. When examined in context, they reveal that the devastating events of the Arab conquest in 638 and the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 did not have as detrimental an effect on liturgy as previously held. Instead, they confirm that the process of Byzantinization was gradual and locally-effected, rather than an imposed element of Byzantine imperial policy or ideology of the Church of Constantinople. Originally, the city's worship consisted of reading scripture and singing hymns at places connected with the life of Christ, so that the link between holy sites and liturgy became a hallmark of Jerusalem's worship, but the changing sacred topography led to changes in the local liturgical tradition. Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem is the first study dedicated to the question of the Byzantinization of Jerusalem's liturgy, providing English translations of many liturgical texts and hymns here for the first time and offering a glimpse of Jerusalem's lost liturgical and theological tradition.