The Sunday Lectionary: Ritual Word, Paschal Shape

The Sunday Lectionary: Ritual Word, Paschal Shape examines a key aspect of the liturgical use of the Bible--how the Lectionary puts biblical flesh on the bones of the liturgical calendar and gives paschal shape to the Christian year. After surveying the history of Lectionaries and chronicling its recent reform, the book establishes the foundations of a more liturgically-based understanding of the Scriptures by studying such essential, yet less conspicuous, aspects of the Lectionary as the principles that underlie its selection of biblical passages and the patterns of reading distribution that structure the Sundays, feast days, and seasons of the liturgical year. Pastors, homilists, worship leaders, lectors, cantors, and students of liturgy through this book may heighten their understanding of the Lectionary and their appreciation of the liturgy.