This guidebook explains the meaning and historical background of all elements of Christian liturgy--the church calendar and the signs, symbols, gestures, vestments, and architectural and sacramental elements. Devotional readings are included to enhance private worship.
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.