Publisher's Synopsis
This book aims not merely to describe what rites Christians performed during the first few centuries of the Church's existence, but also to explain why they did them. What caused them to choose those particular liturgical forms instead of others? What did they understand themselves to be doing in their worship? What effect did that have on the development of Christian doctrine? And how did new doctrinal formulations in turn affect the character of the rites? Written simply and clearly, these are the questions about early Christian liturgy the writer answers in this book.
