Paul F. Bradshaw

Bradshaw is the scholar who managed to throw a great deal of liturgical scholarship into confusion with his edition of the Apostolic Tradition, making a persuasive argument for its being a late forgery (well, at least the product of a later pseudonymous author and unreliable as a source for early Roman liturgical matters) . This shorter (and more affordable) survey is valuable as a broader treatment of early liturgical scholarship in general with omnipresent reminders of how little we really show more know and how tentative many of our conclusions need to be regarding liturgy in the first several centuries of the CE. show less

Fascinating discussion of how liturgical practices evolved and how to interpret liturgical texts according to different guidelines than other ancient texts. The author uses several apt & amusing (to this reader, anyway) comparisons to contemporary experience with liturgical texts and practices to illustrate his points.

Had to put this aside as the syllabus marches on, but what a fascinating examination of the documents we have concerning early Christian worship and all the various issues we must bear in mind as we interpret them.

Historical liturgical studies have undergone quite a lot of change over the last 50 years.

This is a great scholarly book. Dry, but very well researched about the development of the rites of ordination in the Anglican church.