From Age to Age How Christians Have Celebrated the Eucharist, Revised and Expanded Edition

This major study of Eucharistic history may now be even of more interest to lay persons as well as students with the considerable expansion of the illustrations and quotations. Many of the quotes, often fairly lengthy, are run in the wide outer margins; they alone offer a sketch of Eucharistic history. And the varied illustrations are so plentiful that the work could be described as an `illustrated history.' . . . The new, revised edition is only an improvement on what was already a basic text striking just the right tone of informative breadth and depth, scholarship, visual content, and thoroughness to appeal to all readers with an interest in its central religious topic.

Edward Foley's large and graphically grand new edition of From Age to Age helps all of us realize that our Christian roots (in eternity, of course, but also in time, in the form of ceremonies, chalices, architecture) are thoroughly fascinating and humbling, endearing and supportive.

It seems to me that we are living in a time in the life of the Church when there are some who wish to `reform' the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, often in complete ignorance. Alive contemporary liturgy is rooted in preserving the best practices of the past and being open to God's creative spirit in the present. I believe that Ed Foley's newly revised and expanded liturgical work From Age to Age is an essential and classic text in helping local parishes and pastors enliven our liturgies. More than just providing an excellent historic overview of liturgy, Ed's very creative work helps us to understand the theological and cultural settings from which our liturgy has, and continues to, emerge.

The original edition of Foley's book found a broad audience because it distilled an enormous amount of state-of-the-art liturgical scholarship into an informative, reader-friendly overview of the history of the Roman Mass. This edition repeats that accomplishment and does it even better.

The genius of this book is that it is almost a multimedia experience between two covers. . . . Most impressive, though, is the vast number of images throughout the text-art pieces, book illustrations, schematic drawings, floor plans, photographs of buildings and artifacts, musical notation-all of which supplement the author's argument that to understand the history of the Eucharist fully one needs to look broadly at the culture that surrounded it as well as at the liturgical texts and theological underpinnings. This is a great text for the interested nonprofessional as well as the academic. Parish study groups and liturgy committees would both enjoy this book and benefit greatly from it.

This is an excellent historical survey of the development of the eucharistic celebration, with very helpful treatment of developments in architecture, music, books, vessels, and eucharistic theology in each major era. Running alongside the text are well-chosen quotations, photographs, diagrams, and musical examples. Each chapter ends with a delightful story suggesting what it must have been like for real people who celebrated the eucharist. This second revised edition is nearly twice as long as the original, and readers will welcome the addition of eucharistic theology to each chapter, as well as the expansion of the quotations and accompanying material. This will be an indispensable text on the eucharist for teachers and students.

As a text for an undergraduate course on the history of worship, there is simply nothing to compare to it for breadth of material in an engaging format.

What a rich feast of insight, knowledge, and information about eucharistic history and practice through the centuries! The liturgical tradition-in both its vibrant diversity and its lively engagement with material reality, the visual arts, music, and architecture-truly comes alive in this volume. From Age to Age is a must for anyone interested in how Christians have celebrated the sacrament of God's real presence in ever changing contexts.

Edward Foley's revised and expanded edition of From Age to Age is an even more valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding and appreciating the Christian Eucharist than the original proved to be sixteen years ago. This revision, at nearly twice the size of the original, is a welcome addition to any liturgical library. For all who have not had the opportunity to discover the riches of the first edition, this book is a must for your reading list. You will be sure to walk away with a renewed love of, appreciation for, and understanding of the Eucharist as it has evolved throughout the ages.

Foley's new revised edition of From Age to Age is a rich feast of Eucharistic lore. It is very difficult to be accessible and at the same time offer abundant insight and the best of contemporary scholarship, but Foley pulls it off in splendid fashion. This new edition will enable students of the liturgy at every level to engage the architectural, musical, and physical context of the liturgy together with excellent summaries of Eucharistic theology. Foley's short stories are alone worth the price of the book. A triumph!

[I]f you have one choice to make, I don't think you will find any work so comprehensive and so extensive. It's also very well written, clear, and objective. I would recommend From Age to Age as an excellent resource.

From Age to Age is the definitive reference and resource for anyone studying this venerable tradition of Christian worship.

With extraordinary detail helped by numerous artistic images and diagrams, maps and charts, this revised edition of From Age to Age offers a rich presentation of how the Christian Eucharist has evolved over the centuries. Ecumenical in scope and written in a very readable style, Edward Foley's masterful work deserves a wide readership within the churches.

What a useful book! So many histories of the Eucharist deal primarily with its theological development, it is a pleasure to have a book in a format large enough to accommodate architectural drawings, substantial apposite quotations in the margins, photos of liturgical vessels from Roman times to the present, substantial sections on the written forms of liturgical texts from scrolls to books, the development of music from single voice poetic recitation of psalms and prayers.