Wainwright Books

I couldn't help myself from laughing out loud at this incredibly witty piece of historical fiction. I loved it.

What a hysterical send up of historical fiction. Mel Brooks couldn't have done better. I was laughing through every page, the author's toungue must have been firmly planted in his cheek the entire time. Hard to believe this is the same person who wrote the ever so serious (and brilliant!) Within The Fetterlock.

However, I would recommend that you have a passing knowledge of the Wars of the Roses, Edward the IV and Richard the III. Otherwise, you'll miss most of the jokes. Highly recommended and a breath of fresh air from so many serious works of fiction.

I read this book based on Elizabeth Chadwick's glowing review of it in her list of 10 favorite works of historial fiction. Chadwick's opinion bears weight with me as she herself is an accomplished author in that genre. Her thumb's up vote was bolstered by the wild cheering from other reviewers on this site. Just goes to show that one man's hilarious is another man's ho-hum.

The narrator is a wise-cracking "damosel" whose snide observations pertaining to the life and times of England during the Wars of the Roses form the basis of the book. I realize this is intended to be a send up of "straight" historical fiction and, being pretty well familiar with the England of this period, I think I "get" a good many of the jokes. Although light-hearted, this book is a far cry from a hilarity-filled, rib-tickling rolliker I was expecting based on the knee-slapping, guffawing glee expressed by others. Smart-alecky in a wink wink, nudge nudge kind of way, it is far from the laugh-a-page I was anticipating. I felt grateful for the few puny yuks Alianore's japes did afford.

I'll credit Wainwright with originality, but this book was quickly read and quickly forgotten. Witty, yes. If you expect more, I fear you will be disappointed, as I was. By way of an aside, it has been my experience that readers of these reviews seem to like other reviews which support their own opinions and dislike differing viewpoints. I fully expect this review to be widely deemed "unhelpful" being an unpopular vote in an otherwise adoring "fan base." I only wish someone else had earlier risked offering an opinion that this book is maybe not so 5-star funny after all.

I envision Brian Wainwright as a complete history geek who had a blast writing this brilliant book to entertain other complete history geeks. He has done a marvelous job! Brush up on your English Monarchy history from the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors, and keep today's political themes in mind as well, and then dive in to this hilarious "mockumentary" style book.

Alianore Audley is a smart & sassy 15th century wench who is distant kin to the Plantagenets. Her bumbling idiot older brothers do little to look to her welfare, so she relies on her own wiles and is rewarded when they are noticed by King Edward IV. After turning down his first award proposal, she accepts his offer to spy for his government and soon finds herself at the helm of a Middle-aged CIA. She encounters danger, trumps evil, finds love, reluctantly (cough, cough) has sex, and all the while manages to keep her files on various court figures and plotters in meticulous order.

Wainwright's spoof-tale is full of constant sarcasm and history-laden zingers (ie: "You ain't just whistling Greensleeves!"). Alianore's adventures are wonderfully entertaining - the comparison to Mel Brooks by another reviewer is right on target! Alianore is hysterical - this book is great fun and highly recommended, even if you aren't a total history geek. Her sarcasm and the comparisons to more modern politics are obvious to all!

I can't adequately describe how much I loved this book. Not only is it absolutely hilarious, it's also very clever and extremely well-researched, and full of intentional anachronisms which are laugh-out-loud funny. Just a couple of examples: the duke of Gloucester browsing the 'Used Destriers' section of the court newspaper, and Alianore Audley informing Edward IV of his approval ratings. It's also very sympathetic to Richard III, and tells the reader what REALLY happened to the princes in the Tower....
Highly recommended!

From its very beginning, the Church has always worshipped. Building on its Jewish roots and through its meditation on the mysteries of the Christian faith, the worship of the Church developed rich liturgical traditions in different locales that even through the variations of custom maintained a core similarity built upon the legacy of the Apostles. The Protestant Reformation gave impetus to removing perceived excesses (in the case of the magisterial Reformers) and complete overhauls (in the case of the radical Reformers) and this led to an even greater amount of variation to the basic pattern of worship to the point now where local churches in the same offer a bewildering menu of worship styles.

Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker have brought together contributions from various authors to outline the liturgical diversity of the Church in The Oxford History of Christian Worship. Beginning with the earliest days of the Church, the articles details the rich history of Christian worship over two millennia followed bv additional articles covering a specific facet of worship (i.e., the role of women, the use of art) rather than a particular tradition or period. Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern traditions are all covered and, umlike many more academic surveys of Christian worship, recent free church developments such as the growing acceptance of Christianity in Asia and Africa are included.

The quality of the articles is very high and they are generally self-contained and need not be read in order. Both the early articles on liturgical history and the later one bringing together much of the fruit of the scholarship of the liturgical movement are written in a form suitable for scholar and educated layman alike. As a reference source for understanding the diverse traditions of Christian worship, The Oxford History of Christian Worship is indispensible.

The Oxford History of Christian Worship is 860 pages of wonderfully perceptive and accessible historical scholarship in the service of Christian theology. The book is sympathetic to every strand of Christian worship: there is nothing dry or patronizing here. The masterly Introduction by Geoffrey Wainwright is not only theological, it is positively evangelical: if we do not worship the true God we worship false ones.

The book starts with the apostolic tradition, the ancient oriental churches, and goes on to Orthodoxy. I was most impressed by Alexander Rentel's fifty pages on Eastern Orthodoxy, by André Haquin on changes in Catholic worship in the twentieth century, and by Karen Westfield Tucker's forty page chapter on North America. Other chapters deal with different ecclesiologies (Mennonite, Charismatic), territories (Africa, Asia) and themes (Music, the Spatial Setting, Women), and there are seven chapters on church and worship in the global south. The chapters lay out the theological logic of each form of worship: the content and structures of worship services are discussed, with some information laid out in boxes, and lots of illustrations.

Several chapters discuss the twentieth century, in which worship underwent rapid changes in every church. The Roman Catholic recovery of the idea that whole church is the people of God, communion ecclesiology (an unnoticed reformation?), meant that Vatican II was not simply the Catholic church `catching up' with change outside it; it has also been the impetus to liturgical revision in every other (Protestant) denomination. Revision of lectionaries, service books and hymn books shows an increasing Evangelical understanding of the role of the lectionary in cementing the unity of the Church, and thus a growing Protestant realisation of the catholicity of Church. There is an intelligent discussion of Pentecostal and charismatic worship and a tentative look forward, perhaps to a church led by the charismatic churchmanship of the global south. The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a compelling read, and I was gripped even by subjects that I thought I had no interest in. It is the best purchase I have made this year.

Nice solid binding, great illustrations, 900+ pp., really an amazing work.

IDEOLOGY
All mainline Protestants (liberals and neo-orthodox, for lack of a better generalization), progressive Ro. Catholics, or Eastern Orthodox, plus one charismatic from Westmont. The Methodists are the most numerous, but the writers span the Xian family tree (Lutherans, Mennonites, etc.). The only ones left out are Evangelicals (with the exception of the Westmont author). A big group to leave out, but not surprising.

SCOPE: Global, historic (AD 30-present), ecumenical (see above), detailed (34 chapters, over 900 pp.)

Some random thoughts:
Chap. 1 Xian Worship: Scriptural BASIS AND THEO. Frame by Wainwright is exactly what you'd expect from anyone who has read his wonderful book Doxology (1980; systemtics written from a relentlessly LITURGICAL perspective. All theological concepts are related to worship). Wainwright does a very fine job of introducing a topic as large as worship. He does this by opening with a beautiful plea for Xian worship being founded on the particularity of the Biblical God and as opposed to all idols and so-called gods. This comes off, frankly, as a very Reformed section of the book. About a helpful as anything i have read by others with whom I share more theological opinions (Hughes O. Old, John Frame, etc).

For example, he pulls out of the book of Romans all these familiar passages, showing them to be shot through with liturgical language and cultic terms. I will never see Romans the same way again. Then moves on like it was nothing to a brilliant discussion of Imago Dei and how this means we were made for communion with God and then, of course, made for life in society.

BTW -- this wouldn't be a modern mainline book if, after brilliantly demonstrating Xian particularity and exclusive claims to God, he didn't turn around and undermine this with a short but unfortunate nod to universalism (through the benevolent lens of von Balthasar).

Chap. 2 -- Maxwell Johnson. He shows something we all want to fight against -- there was not ONE EARLY CHURCH way to do worship, but several. Some, no doubt, had direct Apostolic roots and others did not. We get ahold of a book like The Apostolic Tradition and we all feel safe -- we can at least hang our hats on it, being right from the pen of Hippolytus of Rome and early 3rd century. So THIS is how the Early Church did liturgy! Well, not really. Lately scholars seem to think its not by Hippolytus (it was anonymous after all), maybe not Roman, and maybe not even 3rd cent. (earliest copies we have are 5th cent.). I am not up on the latest here, but the general point is a muddy one -- there isn't one ideal liturgy of the Early chucrh out there to be recovered and replicated. Of course, we wouldn't want to anyway. There's a Holy Spirit and all. But we CAN find some common phrases, elements, themes, to shape and inform our current worship. This chapter is long-winded and a little too detailed, but great.

Chap. 13 on Reformed Tradition in NETHERLANDS was the most surprising to me. I expected alot better liturgy from this tradition. 1553 Micron liturgy has the most bizarre order of worship imaginable. Sermon comes early, announcements after it, then confession of sin, ends with intercession. Only highlight -- very last item before benediction is an exhortation for the poor.

In the exile Dutch church (French speaking) no member could refuse to partake in the Lord's Supper without good reason (very interesting).

But now things go way down hill. A nat'l synod produces a 1574 liturgy that was much simpler (Puritan) and had no confession of sin. This order remained the same, we are told, into the 21st century, except that teh confession of faith was replaced with Ten Commendments. Uggh! and the Lord's Supper was celebrated only 6 times a year.

This same 1574 nat'l synod also decreed no funeral liturgiess, just preaching, since the dead might be honored instea d of God. And before each celebration of the meal a censura morum (moral investigation) of members was held by a joint group of pastors, elders, deacons (well, do note at least they were three office, not two). Later synods like Middleburg (1581) did not allow Xmas celebation. Eventually it was allowed with soberness to prevent idleness. No explicit absolution or declaration of pardon was allowed becuase the preaching of the Gospel contains enough forgiveness!

In the 17th cent. the very few 'liturgical' elements -- creeds, ten commandments, etc. -- all took place sadly in a sort of pre-service. After them, THEN the pastor would enter the church say a prayer and go right into the sermon! The eucharist was supposed to be celebrated 6 times a year but in many cases only happened annually (p. 467). The Reformers would have died. People wore only black. Maundy Thrus and Good Fri were NOT observed in Dutch Reformed chucrhes, and Easter was explicitly to be a sober emphasis on Christ's DEATH!?

An 1817 synod gave complete liturgical freedom. Freedom from the mess cataloged above would be great, but this also meant freedom from doing any recognizable liturgy. Set forms of prayer, we are told, were viewed as spiritual weakness. A schism occured in 1834 over this stuff.

20th cent. saw some improvements. Kuyper wrote Our Liturgy in 1911 (Is it avaialble in English?). In 1973 several Protestant denominations (Lutherans, Mennonites, Reformed) came together to write a joint hymnal. (Good idea! How about PCA/OPC link up with AMiA, Missour Synod, EPC and some others to do the same? Each could still keep their separate ones, but congregations could elect to use teh ecumencial one insteda of the parachurch ones many use.) Liturgies are reproduced here. Supper finally is celebrated 8-10 times a year (though just 4 times in more orthodox congregations).

After that, chap. 14 on SCOTTISH Reformed makes the Scots look more liturgical and rich. The author here is Ducan Forrester, who was Dean of New College, Edinburgh.

Lots of good insights. Some tragic, some helpful and lovely. The irnonic spectacle -- mobs going way beyond Knox and the Reformers in rioting to destroy every imagined vestige of 'idolatrie" while the very same people jealously guarded all kinds of old practices the Reformers sought to end (saints' days fairs, certain funeral rituals, etc.). The strong influence of German Lutheran liturgies on Wishart and Geo. Buchanan is interesting.

Knox's 1564 liturgy calls for communion once a month (that's about 40 times too few a year, but better than Holland). Sadly it over-fences, of course. But communion is enveloped in wonderful prayers of 'thanksgiving".

Essay is concise and balanced.

Chap. 15 on KOREAN worship is another surprise. They hit two of the three big early missionaroes (Horace Allen and Underwood, but why not Samuel Austin Moffett?). Tell how Nevius' principles and pragmatic concerns (pragmatism ALWAYS messes us up in ways we don't anticipate at the time!) led to a 'temporary' low church, revivalist, simple liturgy, which sadly endured despite all efforts at liturgical renewal that began in the 1920s. Not til the 1980s did any of the liturgical impulse get any foothold at all, the authors claim. Only silver lining -- the non-liturgical, seeker-sensitive "open worship" spreading through much of Korean has been resisted by most 21st cent. Presbyterians, we are told. Small consoluation.

Chap. 16 on ANGLICANS. The author Bryan Spinks is Yale prof., with an interest in music. This is a long chapter, but (unlike chap. 2) needed to be.

Chap. 21 on PENTECOSTALS written by a Westmont prof differed, to me, from the others I read in tone and quality. It seems to be something of an apologetic.

Chap. 26 on Inculturation in AFRICA was wildly educational to me, prob. only because I know so little on this. (Shaw's hist of Xianity in Africa was good, but it does not talk much about liturgy). The author is a native African Nwaka Chris Egbulem who teaches in New Orleans. He's Catholic and makes great points about the need to have an authentically local liturgy that is still somehow Catholic and historic. The case study of the Congo (Zaire) is VERY interesting. P. 689 is where it comes to a head. Obviously, he's right that the Vatican needs to lighten up on the ban against palm wine and millet bread. Reminds me of the Vatican's decision that the kid in NJ who was allergic to wheat couldn't commune with a rice wafer instead.

But he does go too far I think toward syncretism. For example, he wants to incorporate the rich (PAGAN!) prayer traditions into the liturgy mass, etc.

Getting too long here. All pastors need to buy this book.

THE OXFORD HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP should be an essential part of the library of any serious student of Church history and liturgy. Beautifully written and illustrated, it is a comprehensive look at Christian worship and certainly serves well as an authoritative text for those committed to the study of the Church and its divergent denominations and practices over the centuries. It should be required reading for all seminary students, Christian educators, and lay persons interested in peeling away the layers of liturgical practice and focusing upon the real core of Christian worship. In addition, it is an excellent volume to reference in any ecumenical discussion.

This work is quite ambitious, but I think it lives up to its ambition. The book is over 900 pages of Church history geared toward the practice of Christian worship. It is organized in a "somewhat" historical chronological fashion. What I mean by this is it moves the reader through Church history touching on time periods such as the Apostolic Tradition, Ancient Oriental Churches, Byzantine and Slavic Churches, Reformation Churches in all areas of the world from Europe to Korea, Mennonites, Baptists in Britain, and then to North American Churches, the Pentecostal and Charismatic worship, and every other form or style in between.

There are 34 chapters in all covering the entire span of Church history and issues within each time period. The book also covers ecumenical movements, Liturgical styles, music I worship, how visual arts are and can be used in worship, Women in worship, Missions, etc. Simply put, this work is massive and quite exhaustive. This is definitely a reference text to continue to turn back to time and time again. It is both topical and historical and that makes for a very well rounded work.

The contributors come from every imaginable background such as Methodist, Roman Catholic, Swiss Reformed, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc. So every topic gets attention from someone whose central focus in their research field in that very topic. This makes for a nice authoritative text which is able to cover a lot of territory. If you have an interest in Church History, Ecclesiology, Theology, studies in worship style and content, etc. then you will not want to be without this text. I can certainly see this text becoming a standard text book in colleges and seminaries for classes on Ecclesiology and worship.

This is a text for everyone from any tradition and/or background. Even if you disagree with certain worship styles, practices, forms, modes, etc. it will certainly benefit you, the reader, to read about all the various different traditions and styles presented in this text. I recommend this book.

The candid and heartfelt narratives describing the separate pieces really blew my mind. So many crucial life lessons were learned during the time this book was popularly enjoyed by the masses, it seemed that it would be difficult to hit so many nails squarely on the head, but Alexandra Jacopetti has done just this. A total and ecstatic mind blower to the nth degree. Right on!

The atrocities perpetrated by and against hippies during this time period were almost fantastic. Notably the Tenderloin Shakedown in the spring of 67 and the Buena Vista Tulip Raids of 68, I believe Rat Soup and Apple Cobbler may have been there. These events set off a chain of buck wild love responses (organized I believe mainly by Theodore Wrigley) that continue to this day. Sounds like madness, but truth is stranger than fiction. An excellent read for anyone with a taste for the good life!

This book is an extraordinary find. It came into my possession around 1990, when my artsy aunt was purging her book collection. I confiscated her copy from the trash and consider this book among my prized possessions.

Native Flash and Funk captures images and stories of truly creative and talented artisans and crafters.

Truly, you MUST look at the images to appreciate the artistic skills of these artists. I have a great attraction to the wood-carved doors, if I could find one, I would very quickly save the money and have one installed! Secondly I am in awe of the embroidered shirt (a young woman created the shirt while serving time in prison, the nuns taught her to embroider and she became a true visionary with skill). Not to mention the beautiful batik clothing, and touching stories. (okay, so the penny kamode did make me giggle...)

This book is a valuable piece of history that highlights the creative flow of the Haight-Ashbury era.

I have read books...and let me tell you this book is a doosie. Who doesn't dig free love, (...) 5-year olds who smoke marihuana with their parents, and European hashish smuggling babes. Lets get on this freedom train and ride it straight to Ciudad Juarez.

We should all stop donating our money to Howard Dean, and figure out a way to make this book's visionary dream a reality.

I've had this book for several years and only recently read the text. The pictures are amazing but the writing is better. The author treats you like a close friend, as if you were part of the scene around the Bay Area in the late 60s/early 70s. She openly tells you one of her designs came to her at orgasm and another artist works in the local hash pipe factory. There is nothing to hide! I would recommend this book for the use of its beautiful pictures and for those who want a taste of the hippie life at its best.

By far the best guide I've seen for tropical mammals. It includes all information necessary in ID a mammal and understand the ecology of the organism. I met Mark Wainwright and he certainly knows what he's doing. I'm hoping he writes and illustrates a similar book on Costa Rican amphibians.

Most field guides provide very little information other than the features of the animal relevant to identifying it. Wainwright's book, however, contains loads of fascinating natural history information, written in an engaging, sometimes clever but never cute style.

This book is far more than a review of information about mammals in Costa Rica; it is also a good field guide and a useful text on applied conservation. The author is a professional guide in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and as such is knowledgeable about a wide variety of natural history subjects. This book is primarily a review of the literature about mammals in not only Costa Rica, but elsewhere in Central America. It contains information widely applicable to other counties and the suggestions for conservation apply just as widely.

I have a pretty good library on wildlife in Central and South America and this beautifully done book is probably the best, not only about a specific group, but also about general issues. The drawings are excellent, the overall book is well put together and, the writing is clear, simple, accurate, and really first-rate. Buy this book even if you don't plan on traveling to Costa Rica.

A marvellous book, compact enough to be a field guide and yet informative enough to be a valuable reference work at home. As a field guide it is particularly valuable for its superb illustrations and also in showing and discussing things like scats, tracks, dens and sounds for those animals that one would like to see but might not! We'll certainly take it along again on our next trip. As a reference work it is excellent as a clearly and entertainingly written introduction to the natural history and conservation of Costa Rica's many fascinating mammals. It also has a comprehensive list of references to the primary scientific literature.

This book is handy for those who want to identify Costa Rican mammals, but it is especially appropriate for anyone who wishes to go beyond the simple question of "What's that?" It contains a wealth of natural history information on mammals' feeding, defecating, and sexual behavior. The author also describes ecological interactions and conservation issues. Hundreds of superb illustrations depict portraits of the animals as well as behaviors, food plants, and interesting details such as scats and penis bones. While the book focuses on species within Costa Rica, much of the information applies to mammals in Central America in general. The Natural History of Costa Rican Mammals serves as a fine reference book and a fun-to-read book at the same time.

good information on dying and transitioning into the process

Co-written by professional counseling staff members Moira Cairns, Marney Thompson, Wendy Wainwright and sanctioned by the Victoria Hospice Society, Transitions In Dying & Bereavement: A Psychosocial Guide For Hospice And Palliative Care walks the reader through the stages that chronically ill and dying individuals and their families must progress through, from diagnosis to death to bereavement. The most effective interventions for easing stress and confusion are clearly explained, along with sample dialogues that reveal the issues and challenges at each step. Chapters include notes on multicultural and interdenominational perspectives on death and dying, perspectives on body image, intimacy, and sexuality in the dying, ways to help alleviate feelings of anxiety, fear, burnout, denial, and powerlessness, ways to help in planning for death, and much more. A must-read for aspiring or practicing hospice counselors.

This book is a great resource for anyone in hospice or palliative care. By following the structure of the Palliative Performance Scale, this book will guide you through the varied experiences of people who are dying and their loved ones. The authors do an excellent job of portraying the confusion and stress that surround many families from the point of diagnosis until the final phases of grief, while also giving professionals the information they need to provide comfort and reassurance in this difficult time.

This book should really be considered the Hospice Bible, or at least one volume of it. I have never seen a book so clearly laid out, so encompassing of the psychospiritualsocial concerns and strengths for hospice patients and their families! Our hospice bought it after I fell in love with it. Now our social workers and I (grief specialist and death educator) are using it to train our interdiscplinary team on 1. sensitivity, 2. helpful interventions, 3. understanding family AND team dynamics, and 4. understanding the range of care and history that each patient brings with them (such as their previous experiences with the medical, social services, spiritual, and psychological/psychiatric communitites).

At a time when hospice is changing so radically (with so many for profit hospice and so many agencies "pretending to do hospice under the guise of home health" it is refreshing to see a group who has been able to embrace the totality of palliation and hospice in such a humanistic and holistic way!!!

Kudos to the staff at the Victoria Hospice Society. I hope you know how many other lives you changed as this book was published!!!!

The Liturgy has endured for around 2000 years as the primary means of worship for most Christians. We even have an early Eucharist Liturgy in the Didache, the 2nd century early Church manual. Due to the importance of the liturgy, every scholar and church leader needs to engage its development. This book will help in this task (at least for the scholar or priest/pastor. It's a bit academic to keep the interest of the average person in the pew).

This collection is grouped into three main sections: Theology and Rite, Development of the Liturgy, and Pastoral Orientation. Within the Development of Liturgy section there are seven sub-sections: General Intro, Initiation, Eucharist, Ordination, the Divine Office, the Calendar, and the Setting of the Liturgy. There are 65 essays total including, `A Theology of Worship,' `(Initiation in the) the Modern Period,' `The Anglican Eucharist,' `The History of the Christian Year,' and the ever-elusive `Methodism (and the Eucharist).' The essays cover a wide range of topics, interpretations, and time periods. Both Catholic and Protestant thought are represented nicely, in order to provide a truly useful survey. Also included are numerous glossy black-and-white photos of churches, liturgical manuscripts, and old church manuals.

I highly recommend this book for the liturgical scholar, the early or later Church historian, priests, pastors, and the interested layperson. The scholars are all top-notch, and the book is illuminating and will answer most questions about the Liturgy. The only drawback is that this book is priced rather high, since it is considered a textbook.

The Study of Liturgy provides an easily readible and comprehensive history of the development of Liturgy. This study shows how such things as seasonal colors, vestments,Church calenders,and specific prayers came to be part of liturgical worship. What makes this book so useful is it's quality writing. Here, both students of Liturgy and interested laypersons can find facenating answers to their questions concerning liturgical function and ritual. How does the wearing of vestments impact worship? Why do the participants do what they do and when? What is Lent? What's up with all the bowing and hand gestures? Liturgical worship can be an awesome and majestic expierence. This wonderful book will demystify this type of worship for liturgical church goers and those of more reformed traditions alike.The authors have produced a quality work that can be read by non-technical persons and thoroughly enjoyed.

Study Liturgy?
The late Dean of St. Paul's, was dining at a high table in Oxford and was asked by his neighbor, a distinguished liturgist, whether he was interested in liturgy.'No,' said the Dean, Neither do I collect postage stamps'; quoted from : Couratin ,Introduction to Liturgy, the Pelican Guide to Modern Theology, Vol. 2. But, even though he criticized Dr. Inge's estimate of liturgical study - a trivial branch of archaeology - his study was part of volume 2 : Historical Theology.

What is liturgy?
Liturgy is neither 'historical' nor a collection of prescribed forms for public worship as per webster's student dictionary. Liturgy is the work of the laity and ministry for their life in the spirit, a real participation in the mystical body of Christ. This is what the outstanding editors of this masterly book reflect in this revision: the last two decades of intense liturgical productivity, ecumenical openness among not only scholars but also ecclesiastical corpus.

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi
When you browse through this book you will find out about Will Durant's "Mansions" of liturgy, after you read some chapters you will realize the "pleasures of Liturgy". Ecumenical character of this monumental work is maintained by a panel of 25 contributors who seem to believe in what they write, practicing scholars.

The Editors and contributers:
G. Wainwright (Doxology) was my guarantee to the first edition , P. Bradshaw (Daily prayer in the early Church) enhanced my decision to buy an additional revised edition.
Just read the last chapter "Pastoral orientation" to find out how D.Tripp ingeniously sammerizes the real impact of liturgy on the people of the Lord. You may as well start with E.Yarnold's:
"The liturgy of the Faithful",I challenge you to stop reading!
I would love to find K. Ware and G. Bebawi , both of Oxford U. within the future contributers of the next edition, since liturgy is only whole with eastern orthodox authenticity.

At last,the Book: The Study of Liturgy:
I learned from this book more than what I learned in fourty years about the liturgy of the One Holy Universal Apostolic Church. Brought up in the ancient Church of Alexandria as didaskalos (teaching deacon, a tradition of the Alexandrine Megalopolis that started with Origen), I hope you appreciate what liturgy and its study can do for your enlightment, spiritual revival may also be a fruit, but for sure ecumenical fellowship in the Corpus Christi, the ever living.
Look at the table of contents and make your decision, because when you read this book, it will invite you to a new life, an ancient tradition of the real Church that will never be old.
If you have only one book on liturgy it should be this work, but it will be the first love, others will follow , some of those mentioned in the preface.

This book is astoundingly interesting, attempting to tell the story of a people long ago vanished. The historical and archeological information is well grounded and the book is an exciting read. This hard to find gem is definitely worth a look.

Although written in the 50's, this book still remains one of the cornerstones of Pictish studies.

Divided into several parts (by several authors) which address language, customs, etc., the book explores the pre-Scottish people of Scotland known to history as Picts. Although several issues have been clarified in subsequent years, the basic problems raised by the editor as to origin, language and cultural ethnicity of the Picts remain unanswered to this day.

A must read for Pictophiles!

Prof. Wainwright has written an unusual book supporting the philosophical position known as evidentialism. Outside of the "hard sciences" and math, the basis for having an explanation that has force is not based primarily on inductive or deductive reasoning. Other elements inform one's explanations and understandings. He notes "As Newman and James have shown, temperament, passion, intuition, and sentiment affect the beliefs we take as basic and our attitude toward evidence." Newman has written extensively about illative reasoning, and James about the relevance of "the will to believe" or, so to speak, pragmatic reasoning.
His arguments are compelling when one considers the incessant drumbeat of the atheists and secular humanists that religious beliefs are unreasonable. Many claim, "We have reason; you have mere faith, a species of irrationality where wishes are affirmed as truth." Prof. Wainwright marvelously resists this "spin" and places reason under a magnifying glass, building on the work of gifted predecessors, the ones I have already mentioned as well as Jonathan Edwards. The opponents of religious faith have established a straw man definition of reason that would make it impossible for the reasonableness of religious claims or explanations to reach the threshhold of "rigor" that irreligionists seem to require. Rather, he manages to demonstrate that religious faith is both reasonable and has force. There is good reason to believe that there is warrant in religious belief; however, even arguments deficient in warrant could be more true than warranted statements.
Prof. Wainwright reverses the old axiom and shows that a good defense can be one's best offense. By setting a rigid and impossible threshhold for defining what (correct/valid) reasoning is, irreligionists have, it seems, made it impossible (in an arbitrary way) to justify the epistemic validity of faith. So, Prof. Wainright has not taken the tack of countering that the absolute claims of a faithful Christian are just...well,...absolutely true, and that religion's critics just don't understand. Instead, he shows that a case for religion's truth can be made without throwing revelation in the face of God's critics.
Thus, I recommend this book as the height of generosity, diplomacy, and kindness while at the same time filled with reasonable philosophical truths. Only a sophisticated reader of philosophy would enjoy this work.

William Wainwright's book, Reason and the Heart, desperately needs to be given more attention by epistemologists. It focuses on the question, roughly speaking, "what is the relationship of our beliefs and passional nature?" Or more precisely, "what must be true of the world and our relation to it if our religious knowledge is genuine" (152). Consider the following "Oxford-Philosophers Case": both Richard Swinburne (a Christian philosopher) and J.L. Mackie (an atheist philosopher) are both *very* intelligent individuals. Both have looked at a great deal of the evidence regarding the existence or nonexistence of God. Why is it that both of these bright men end up taking drastically different positions?

Wainwright argues that one explanation of this is that one's heart is not suited to see the *force* of the arguments one way or the other. Typically, most philosophers have thought that our knowledge of God is either by reason alone, or knowing God is a "heart" knowledge (something contrasted to reason). Wainwright offers a third alternative - which I for one am in full agreement with. In explicating this third alternative - that "reason is capable of knowing God one the basis of evidence - but only when when's cognitive faculties are rightly disposed," - Wainwright considers the work of the Puritan philosophical theologian, Jonathan Edwards, Cardinal John Henry Newman (particularly from The Grammar of Assent), and William James. However, Wainwright's interpretation of James is unique in that most take a different interpretation.

Lastly, Wainwright considers three objections to this view (a passional theory of knowledge); they are subjectivism, the problem of (vicious) circularity, and cognitive-relativism. The third appears to be the most problematic; however, the are ways of dealing with the matter depending on one's underlying metaphysics.

Theists and nontheists alike should be concerned about passional-reason. If one does not have any account of why disputes appear on basic issues (i.e. determinism or indeterminism), then one's acceptance of a position may appear arbitrary to oneself and to others. One small problem is that it seems, to me at least, that Wainwright's arguments for his view are deeply theistic. It would be interesting to see someone like William Rowe write an indepth discussion about this (perhaps he has?). In any case, this is a fantastic book because it emphasizes the need for an account of when and what role passions *should* play in our reasoning. How such an account would go is only hinted at; but this book does a nice job pointing out that we need one.

This really helps. It's got good information and is easy to read.

As a librarian, I have always wondered why publishers were wont to provide serious guidance-oriented books for the middle school audience. There is certainly a glut of YA books out there, but somehow the middle shoolers are neglected. This book is an excellent, well-written, thoughtful, and sensitive look at a serious subject. I think that all librarians should have mutliple copies of this title on their shelves. I hope that Wainwright (an author I was not previously aware of) will continue to write such thought-provoking titles.

John Wainwright, ex-Yorkshire cop, has written over 70 tremendously varied crime novels. This one attempts to portray all the facets of police work in a 24-hour period, from multiple viewpoints: street cops, ranking police officers, victims, crooks, and families of all. There are over thirty "main" characters, but they are so sharply individualized that one always knows who's who at any time. There are several plot strands, carefully distributed, and a catastrophic, very satisfying climax. Wainwright brings all his characters alive with no wasted words. This book has it all: complex and varied characters, logical and interesting plot, excellent pacing, well-portrayed Yorkshire village life, humor, and wisdom. A fine novel!