Father Luigi Gambero, internationally-known expert on early Christianity, presents a comprehensive survey of the development of Marian doctrine and devotion during the first eight centuries. Focusing on the lives and works of over thirty of the most famous Church Fathers and early Christian writers, Fr. Gambero has produced a clear and readable summary of the richness of the patristic age's theological and devotional approach to the Mother of God. The book contains numerous citations from the works of those men who developed the defining Christological and Mariological positions that have constituted the foundational doctrinal teaching of the Church. Each chapter concludes with an extended reading from the works of the patristic authors. A number of these texts have never before been published in English. The thought of the Fathers and early Christian writers continues to fascinate readers today. Their theological acuity and spiritual depth led them faithfully into the mysteries of Sacred Scripture. Their vast experience made them reliable and trustworthy witnesses to the faith of the people of God.

"The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a comprehensive and authoritative history, lavishly illustrated, of the origins and development of Christian worship up to the present day. Following contemporary methods in scholarship, it attends to social and cultural contexts and examines the worship traditions from both Eastern and Western Christianity, ancient and modern. It offers a chronological account, while encompassing spatial and confessional variations, from Baptists in Britain to Roman Catholics in Mexico, from Orthodox in Ethiopia to Pentecostals in the United States, from Lutheran and Reformed in Europe to united churches in India and Australia. The material details of Christian worship, such as music, architecture, and the visual arts, are considered within specific cultural contexts throughout the volume as well as studied thematically in individual chapters."--BOOK JACKET.