All pilgrimages should be stopped.' This blunt assertion by Martin Luther, echoed unanimously by the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformers, is the pivot of Professor Davies's fascinating and original study. Why were pilgrimages condemned? To answer the question he gathers together material to illustrate the nature of pilgrimages and the motives behind them, extending from patristic times to the Middle Ages. Then he studies the effects of the condemnation on the flourishing pilgrimage trade. During the nineteenth century, the Holy Land again attracted visitors, even among Protestants; here is another change which needs to be explained. Pilgrimages may have been resurrected in our day, but there has been little examination in depth of the criticisms previously levelled against them among Protestants. A substantial chapter attempts to fill this gap, at the same time supplying a modern theology of pilgrimage. The book ends with a review of the devotional aspects of modern pilgrimages, and with suggestions about possible services, use of the Bible, meditations and soon. J. G. Davies was Professor and former Head of the Department of Theology in the University of Birmingham.

Western man has lost, it is argued, his sense of religious dread, of awe at the numinous, and with it a whole dimension of human experience. He is no longer aware of the holy. But is this claim entirely true ? Is holiness a matter of the numinous, of awe and religious dread ? Might not the holy now be encountered under a different form ? Professor Davies is convinced that man can and does still encounter the holy, but that he does so in and through, and not apart from the world, taking world to mean both human relations and the public life of man in history. So having established a model for the holy, he presents a great variety of disclosure situations, derived from novels, films, television documentaries and so on, within which the holy may be discerned, from the realms of personal relationships. sex, death, history, politics and work. The second part of the book then relates this thinking to the subject of worship. Beginning with the crisis of worship today it examines, with the help of insights provided by social anthropologists and sociologists, worship, ritual, community and fellowship. Further aid is sought from a consideration of some secular rituals, leading finally to a chapter on rites of modernization which spells out an understanding of worship related to the secular universe and the New Testament model of the holy.

A classic title now republished, this reference work is devoted to matters of worship. It does not limit itself to any specific period, but covers all the Christian centuries. Nor is it devoted to one Church only, but attempts to be truly ecumenical. This lexicon contains over 800 entries, ranging from simple definitions to full-length articles tracing the history of the object or practice described. The entries selected are those that the student of liturgy is likely to encounter most frequently. Bibliographical references are given for the main items and a special feature where a liturgical document is concerned, is the listing of original texts and, when available, of translations together with critical studies if there are any directly bearing upon the subject. Cross-references are indicated by an asterisk. This book is an indispensable tool for all students of worship and indeed anyone interested in the history and practice of Christian liturgy.

A classic title now republished, this reference work is devoted to matters of worship. It does not limit itself to any specific period, but covers all the Christian centuries. Nor is it devoted to one Church only, but attempts to be truly ecumenical. This lexicon contains over 800 entries, ranging from simple definitions to full-length articles tracing the history of the object or practice described. The entries selected are those that the student of liturgy is likely to encounter most frequently. Bibliographical references are given for the main items and a special feature where a liturgical document is concerned, is the listing of original texts and, when available, of translations together with critical studies if there are any directly bearing upon the subject. Cross-references are indicated by an asterisk. This book is an indispensable tool for all students of worship and indeed anyone interested in the history and practice of Christian liturgy.

In this evocative study, new perspectives are achieved by associating worship with topics with which it is not usually linked and by seeing it in new contexts. Thus to begin with worship is interpreted in terms oi'games theory, and later it is interpreted as a political act. In other chapters, worship is considered in relation to apparently disparate subjects: dance (does not dance detract from the supposed solemnity of worship?), sexuality (once inside the church door does one not have to suppose that we are all males?) and laughter (what, smiles in the sanctuary?). Behind the apparent arbitrariness there is a logical progression. Play, with which the analysis opens, is a matter of balance between freedom and rules. One activity which achieves this is dance, so that play leads on to dance and then to sexuality, since dance has an inescapable erotic quality. The kiss of peace has a possible sexual connotation, which calls for the paying of attention to harmony and conflict. Conflict relates to political struggle, and so on. From all this, the act of worship emerges, not as the following of fixed patterns, but as a creative act which demands the response of men's whole being in risk and involvement.

Davies' study of medieval Armenian architecture focuses on one of Armenia's most outstanding medieval monuments, the Church of the Holy Cross at Aght'amar. The church, built a thousand years ago, has survived intact and provides a valuable glimpse of the art of the 10th-century kingdom of Vaspurakin. The sculptural and mural programmes are discussed in detail as are the influences on the artwork and the subsequent history of the church up to the present day.