Worship Without Words: The Signs and Symbols of Our Faith, Expanded Edition - Softcover

Klein, Patricia S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557255040 ISBN 13: 9781557255044

Publisher: Paraclete Press, 2006

Synopsis

The perfect resource to explain christian church symbolism. If you are new to liturgical worship, through conversion or rediscovery, you may find yourself surrounded by images and traditions that are totally foreign to your experience of church. This thorough guide uses understandable language to explain the signs, symbols, gestures, vestments, calendar, and architectural and sacramental elements of the liturgy. With clarity and insight, Patricia Klein explores the meaning of these time-honored traditions, as well as their historical and biblical roots. New to this edition are expanded sections on liturgical colors, pre-Lenten traditions, the Last Things, saints’ feast days, and symbols of Easter, martyrdom, saints, and the Virgin Mary; as well as entirely new sections on symbols of sin and temptation, and Old Testament saints and their symbols in art and architecture.

About this title

Review:

Patricia Klein has put together an immensely useful handbook for all elements of Christian worship. Using drawings, definitions, and brief historical explanations, she maps out the large landscape of liturgy with clarity and brevity. Chapter 1, for example, moves from the most obvious starting point (the church building itself, including explanations of the terms cathedral, basilica, and oratory) through monastic architecture, the interior and exterior spaces (buttress, cloister, apse, chancel) and then into church furnishings (ambo--"a raised desk from which the Gospels or Epistles were read or chanted") and liturgical furnishings (processional cross, alms basin). Subsequent chapters explore the altar, the cross, the liturgical year, liturgical worship, music, sacraments, vestments, as well as church dogma (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed). A delightful book for browsing and reference, it can get positively addictive for anyone with an interest in the outer forms of the inner faith. --Doug Thorpe

About the Author:

Patricia S. Klein is a writer and book editor who resides in northern Virginia, where she attends the Church of the Apostles (Episcopal) in Fairfax.

About this edition

• Publisher: Paraclete Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1557255040
• ISBN 13: 9781557255044
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 253