Ancient Christian Worship

“Ancient Christian Worship is the book that scholars, teachers, and students of early Christianity and liturgical history have long needed. Andrew McGowan provides an authoritative, accessible, and up-to-date synthesis of what we know (and do not know) about the worship lives of the ancient Christians. Anyone interested in the early church or Christian liturgy will learn from this gracefully written and clearly argued book.”—David Brakke, Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of Christianity and professor of history, Ohio State University

“Andrew McGowan here provides a clear and beautifully written introduction to ancient Christian worship. While never oversimplifying the richness and complexity of his subject, McGowan has produced a study that is simultaneously comprehensive and accessible. All readers, from beginners to those more advanced, will be rewarded by both his erudition and his insight. This work justifiably will be cherished by students and teachers alike for generations to come.”—Robin Jensen, Luce Chancellor’s Professor of the History of Christian Art and Worship, Vanderbilt University; author of Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity

“Ancient Christian Worship provides pastors, students, and interested readers with a lively, detailed account of how Christians ate together, prayed, read Scripture, and celebrated with song and dance from New Testament times to the fourth-century basilica churches. The story of diversity and change will encourage twenty-first-century believers struggling with church renewal.”—Pheme Perkins, professor of theology, Boston College

“One of our best liturgical historians has written the book we hoped he would. In readable and engaging prose, Ancient Christian Worship draws together a quarter century of recent scholarship on the origins of Christian worship. It will soon be required reading for anyone interested in the critical study of the ancient Christian church, including students and scholars of the New Testament and Late Antiquity.”—Charles A. Bobertz, St. John’s University

“The proliferation of detailed studies of ancient Christian worship leaves nonspecialists in want of a reliable and well-researched survey. Andrew McGowan comes to our aid in this splendid volume. Informed by an expert knowledge of the field and a keen methodological awareness, yet writing with a clarity that renders the work accessible to any educated reader, McGowan surveys the early Christians’ communal eating and drinking, teaching and preaching, song and dance, initiation and prayer, and feasts and fasts. He gives due attention to the diversity attested in the first four centuries but also recognizes commonalities discernible in the sources. When students inquire about early Christian worship, this will now be the book I recommend as the starting point for serious research.”—Jeffrey Peterson, Jack C. and Ruth Wright Professor of New Testament, Austin Graduate School of Theology

“Ancient Christian Worship is a wonderfully broad but deep introduction to the sources and complex history of early Christian liturgical traditions. Readers will find here not only an astute interpretation of the backgrounds and foregrounds of early liturgy but also a vivid demonstration of what the various components of early worship services actually looked and sounded like. Here indeed is a treasury of insights into the formative theology of worship.”—Paul Blowers, Dean E. Walker Professor of Church History, Emmanuel Christian Seminar