Top Academic Books on the History of Worship

GENERAL

Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical

Senn, Frank C.

Augsburg Fortress Publishers
(April 1, 1997)

A History of Women in Christian Worship

White, Susan J.

Pilgrim Press
(December 1, 2003)

The Study of Liturgy

Jones, Cheslyn ed.

Oxford University Press 

(January 1, 1992)

The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith

Walls, Andrew F.

Orbis Books
(September 1, 1996)

Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods

James E. Bradley and Muller, Richard

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
(August 1, 1995)

Liturgies of the Western Church

Thompson, Bard

Augsburg Fortress Publishers
(November 1, 1980)

BIBLICAL PERIOD

At the Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion

Hurtado, Larry W.

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
(September 1, 2000)

Praying by the Book: The Scripturalization of Prayer in Second Temple Judaism

Newman, Judith H.

Society of Biblical Literature
(1999)

Penitential Prayer in Second Temple Judaism: The Development of a Religious Institution

Werline, Rodney Alan

Society of Biblical Literature
(1998)

Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Falk, Daniel K.

Brill Academic Publishers
(February 1, 1998)

EARLY CHURCH

The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods For the Study of Early Liturgy

Bradshaw, Paul F.

Oxford University Press
(May 1, 2002)

The Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion

Hurtado, Larry W.

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
(September 1, 2000)

Ambrose of Milan’s Method of Mystagogical Preaching

Satterlee, Craig

Liturgical Press
(May 1, 2002)

Apostolic Constitutions

Bradshaw, Paul, et al

Augsburg Fortress Publishers
(October 1, 2002)

EASTERN CHURCH

The Byzantine Rite: A Short History

Taft, Robert F.

Liturgical Press
(November 1, 1992)

The Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development, and Meaning of Stational Liturgy

Baldovin, John F.

Edizioni Orientalia Christiana
(1987)

Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers

Bradshaw, Paul F.

Liturgical Press
(November 1, 1997)

MEDIEVAL CHURCH

Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture

Rubin, Miri

Cambridge University Press
(October 29, 1992)

Birth, Marriage and Death: Ritual, Religion and the Life-Cycle In Tudor and Stuart England

Cressy, David

Oxford University Press
(July 1, 1999)

Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to the Sources

Vogel, Cyrille

Pastoral Press
(September 1, 1986)

Ritual in Early Modern Europe

Muir, Edward

Cambridge University Press
(August 28, 1997)

The Divine Office in the Latin Middle Ages: 

Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography

Fassler, Margot E. and Baltzer, Rebecca A.

Oxford University Press 

(August 2, 2000)

The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development

Jungmann, Joseph A.

Burns & Oates
(1959)

The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580

Duffy, Eamon

Yale University Press
(May 10, 2005)

REFORMATION and BEYOND

Sacraments, Ceremonies and the Stuart Divines: 

Sacramental Theology and Liturgy in England and Scotland, 1603-1662

Spinks, Bryan D.

Ashgate Publishing
(May 1, 2002)

Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change and Continuity in Religious Practice

Maag, Karin and Witvliet, John D.

University of Notre Dame Press
(May 30, 2004)

The Body Broken: The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century France

Elwood, Christopher

Oxford University Press
(December 1, 1998)

Worship and Theology in England: From Cranmer to Baxter and Fox, 1534-1690

Davies, Horton

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 

(March 1, 1996)

Worship and Theology in England: From Watts and Wesley to Martineau, 1690-1900

Davies, Horton

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
(March 1, 1996)

Worship and Theology in England: The Ecumenical Century, 1900 to the Present

Davies, Horton

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
(April 1, 1996)

Roman Catholic Worship: Trent to Today

White, James F.

Liturgical Press
(September 1, 2003)

Liturgy Wars: Ritual Theory and Protestant Reform in Nineteenth-Century Zurich

Vial, Theodore M.

Routledge 

(August 1, 2003)

AMERICA

Sacred Song in America: Religion, Music, and Public Culture

Marini, Stephen A.

University of Illinois Press
(May, 2003)

Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land: Hymnody in the History of North American Protestantism

Blumhofer, Edith L. and Noll, Mark A.

University of Alabama Press
(July 19, 2004)

Public Worship, Private Faith: Sacred Harp and American Folksong

Bealle, John

University of Georgia Press
(October 1, 1997)

The Language of the Psalms in Worship: American Revisions of Watts’ Psalter

Stackhouse, Rochelle A.

Scarecrow Press
(June 12, 1997)

How Sweet the Sound: Music in the Spiritual Lives of Americans

Stowe, David W.

Harvard University Press
(April 30, 2004)

American Methodist Worship

Tucker, Karen B. Westerfield

Oxford University Press
(March 1, 2001)

The Altar Call: Its Origins and Present Usage

Bennett, David

University Press of America
(November 8, 2000)

Holy Fairs: Scottish Communions and American Revivals in the Early Modern Period

Schmidt, Leigh Eric

Princeton University Press
(January 1, 1990)

The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England

Stout, Harry

Oxford University Press
(September 1, 1988)

Democratization of American Christianity

Hatch, Nathan

Yale University Press
(January 23, 1991)

A Little Heaven Below: 

Worship at Early Methodist Quarterly Meetings

Ruth, Lester

Kingswood Books
(May 1, 2000)

RECENT HISTORY

The Reform of the Liturgy: 1948-1975

Bugnini, Annibale

Liturgical Press
(March 1, 1990)

The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal Charismatic Movements

Burgess, Stanley M.

Zondervan
(June 1, 2002)

ARCHITECTURE

When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America

Kilde, Jeanne Halgren

Oxford University Press
(July 1, 2002)

The Gothic Revival and American Church Architecture: An Episode of Taste 1840-1856

Stanton, Phoebe B.

The Johns Hopkins University Press
(June 1, 1997)

From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History

Loveland, Anne C. and Wheeler, Otis B.

University of Missouri Press
(November 1, 2003)

Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley

Kieckhefer, Richard

Oxford University Press
(March 1, 2004)

Buildings, Faith and Worship: The Liturgical Arrangement of Anglican Churches 1600-1900

Yates, Nigel

Oxford University Press
(June 1, 2001)

House of God: Region, Religion and Architecture in the United States

Williams, Peter W.

University of Illinois Press
(August 1, 2000)

Heaven On Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium

Safran, Linda

Pennsylvania State University Press 

(June 1, 1998)

MUSIC

Te Deum: The Church and Music

Westermeyer, Paul

Augsburg Fortress Publishers
(June 1, 1998)

The Advent Project: The Later-Seventh-Century Creation of the Roman Mass Proper

McKinnon, James

University of California Press
(August 14, 2000)

Johann Sebastian Bach and Liturgical Life in Leipzig

Stiller, Günter

Concordia Publishing House 

(June 1, 1984)

Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict

Herl, Joseph

Oxford University Press
(June 1, 2004)

Readings in African American Church Music and Worship

Abbington, James

GIA Publications
(April 1, 2002)

EUCHARIST

Eucharist and Eschatology

Wainwright, Geoffrey

Oxford University Press
(July 1, 1981)

From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World

Smith, Dennis E.

Augsburg Fortress Publishers
(January 1, 2003)

Evangelical Eucharistic Thought in the Church of England

Cocksworth, Christopher J.

Cambridge University Press
(January 14, 1993)

Eucharist and Offering

Stevenson, Kenneth

Pueblo Publishing Company 

(October 1, 1992)

BAPTISM

Baptism in the Reformed Tradition: An Historical and Practical Theology

Riggs, John W.

Westminster John Knox Press
(August 1, 2002)

Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy

Whitaker, E.C., ed.

Liturgical Press 

(November 1, 2003)

The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the Sixteenth Century

Old, Hughes Oliphant

Eerdmans Publishing Company 

(April 1, 1992)

The Rites of Christian Initiation: The Evolution and Interpretation

Johnson, Maxwell E.

Liturgical Press
(April 1, 1999)

Redeeming Time: The Wisdom of Ancient Jewish and Christian Festal Calendars

Chilton, Bruce

Hendrickson Publishers
(September 1, 2002)

LITURGICAL YEAR

The Origins of the Liturgical Year

Talley, Thomas J.

Liturgical Press
(April 1, 1991)

Redeeming Time: The Wisdom of Ancient Jewish and Christian Festal Calendars

Chilton, Bruce

Hendrickson Publishers
(September 1, 2002)