vigiliae christianae 68 (2014) 329-346

Vigiliae
Christianae
brill.com/vc

Book Reviews
Lester Ruth, Carrie Steenwyk & John D. Witvliet

Walking Where Jesus Walked. Worship in Fourth-Century Jerusalem (The Church at

Worship: Cases Studies From Christian History, Grand Rapids/ Cambridge, U.K.:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2010, XI + 160 pp., ISBN 978-0-80286476-5, US$ 23.00 (pb); Walter D. Ray, Tasting Heaven on Earth. Worship in SixthCentury Constantinople (The Church at Worship: Cases Studies From Christian
History, Grand Rapids/ Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company 2012, XI + 158 pp., ISBN 978-0-8028-6663-9, US$ 28.00 (pb).

It is rather uncommon for Vigiliae Christianae to publish reviews of publications intended for a readership which, apart from specialists in Early
Christianity, includes students working in a variety of complementary theological and non-theological disciplines and even congregational study groups.
There is, however, good reason to make an exception for these two welldocumented and user-friendly volumes containing case studies in the history
of Christian liturgy.
What makes these two publications other from historical studies of worship
is first of all their focus on concrete practices at specific times and places,
namely fourth century Jerusalem and sixth century Constantinople. Moreover,
the liturgical rituals in question are considered from multiple perspectives.
Whereas many liturgical studies focus on texts said by the clergy, the authors
of these volumes are keen on getting an idea of the participation of the entire
community and the multi-sensory dimension of worship. That is why they
explicitly take into account, apart of (prescriptive) orders of service, data about
liturgical space, artifacts and music that may help us to get a more complete
idea of the performance of the celebrations. Thus, the books contain, besides
many texts, maps of both cities in the fourth and sixth centuries and reconstructions of the structures and the furnishings of the Holy Sepulcher complex
in Jerusalem and the Hagia Sophia respectively. As a rule, the texts are well
selected. The volume dealing with Jerusalem includes large excerpts from
Egerias diary, from the so-called Old Armenian lectionary published by
Athanase/Charles Renoux and from sermons of Cyril of Jerusalem (or ascribed
to him), as well as the text of the Liturgy of St. James. In the volume on
Constantinople we find excerpts from the Mystagogy of Maximus Confessor,
from Procopius Description of the Splendor of the Hagia Sophia, from Paul
koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 4|doi .6/577-466

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Book Reviews

the Silentiarys Description of the Holy Church as well as a reconstruction of

the Order of the Divine Liturgy of Basil and some Kontakia written by Romanos
Melodos. As a rule, use has been made of carefully selected English translations. The English translation of the excerpts of the Old Armenian lectionary,
however, is new and so this very important text is made accessible to English
readers for the first time. Finally, the reader who wants to delve further into the
subject will find references to older and recent critical editions of primary
sources and to important secondary literature.
The selection of the sources and the way in which they are being presented
and explained will certainly help to make the liturgical practices of the two
cities alive for the reader and the method used may serve as a model for the
scholarly study of early Christian rituals.
Gerard Rouwhorst

Tilburg School of Catholic Theology,

Tilburg University
grouwhorst@gmail.com

Vigiliae Christianae 68 (2014) 329-346