This is an attractive and inviting volume: a visiting priest-friend immediately
picked it up and started browsing. Whether for occasional reference or
detailed study, the book includes a comprehensive range of quotes
from primary and secondary sources down the centuries, arranged into
sections covering initiation, the eucharist, liturgies of the word, other
sacraments and occasional services, and the calendar and liturgical
time. The first two chapters preface this with significant quotations
tracing the evolution of both sacramental and liturgical theology from
the earliest Christian era and include many contemporary authors. With
judicious editing and explanation, Maxwell Johnson demonstrates the
variety revealed by the sources at different periods and within different
traditions. The texts offer a useful and fascinating corrective to a linear
model of liturgical development, and rich material for preaching and
devotional use as well as for study.

- Jo Spreadbury, Modern Believing