The Mass of the Early Christians

Rating:
Summary: Lift Up Your Hearts
Review: Among the most important developments for the Church in the last decade has been the rediscovery of the liturgical forms of the ancient Christianity. While much of the worship of Protestant Evangelicalism has become increasingly trite by appropriating the ethos of the popular culture, there has been a counter movement to find a more authentic worship by studying patterns of the early Church. This examination has been an enlightening experience to many thoughtful Evangelicals as they came to realize their own worship styles were of fairly recent vintage. Even more shocking, the worship of the early Church was liturgical in form, Catholic in outlook, and centered upon the Eucharist. As a result, many have either left the Evangelical movement for the historic Churches or sounded a call to return to more traditional patterns of worship within their own traditions.

The final piece of the puzzle is for those in the liturgical Churches to realize the treasures in their own midst and correct abuses that have detrimentally affected their own worship traditions. For those in the Roman Catholic Church who are unfamiliar with the history of early Christian worship, there may be no better starting point than The Mass of the Early Christians by Mike Aquilina. Written for a general audience, Aquilina manages to tie together liturgical styles from disparate sources of the early Church as they reflected on the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Although the book is primarily aimed at Roman Catholics, all Christians from liturgical traditions can read this book with profit and find comfort in the firm historical basis of their own worship. Those who have shunned liturgical worship might after reading this book reconsider their position and wonder what they have been missing. At no point does Aquilina force the Roman Catholic position but to his credit allows the ancient Church to speak for itself.

The first section of the book is a description of the origin and early development of the worship of the Church. Aquilina carefully examines the Jewish roots of the Mass and how the liturgy of the Church is a development of the ancient Jewish worship with the focus now placed on Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the establishment by Jesus of a new and everlasting covenant. The exposition of the Eucharist doctrine and liturgical forms used in the early Church is among the best introductory treatments of the subject as the reader is skillfully brought into contact with the thought of the early Church. After careful consideration of the discussion, readers who have had little exposure to the historical evidence may now see the worship of the Church with new eyes.

In the second part of the book, Aquilina provides primary evidence from the patristic period to support the veracity of his earlier exposition. Of particular interest are liturgical texts used in the early Church. It might be claimed the statements of certain patristic writers are not necessarily representative of the Church as a whole, but when the same themes are echoed in distinct liturgies used in areas separated by great distances, the weakness of this argument is exposed. If one belongs does not worship as the early Church worshipped and does not pray as the early Church prayed, it is also likely they do not believe what the early Church believed.

The book concludes with a fictional reconstruction by Aquilina of what it was probably like to worship in the early Church. This approach is quite compelling as the hard historical evidence provided earlier in the book is fleshed out in this hypothetical account of a Christian family at worship.

Many Christians from traditions not sympathetic to formal liturgy are now taking the historical witness of the early Church seriously. As a basic introduction to the richness of early Christian liturgy, The Mass of the Early Christians is a fine starting point. It is an inspiring account of the patristic mass that calls to the Church, as in the liturgy itself, to "lift up your hearts."

Rating:
Summary: Lift Up Your Hearts
Review: Among the most important developments for the Church in the last decade has been the rediscovery of the liturgical forms of the ancient Christianity. While much of the worship of Protestant Evangelicalism has become increasingly trite by appropriating the ethos of the popular culture, there has been a counter movement to find a more authentic worship by studying patterns of the early Church. This examination has been an enlightening experience to many thoughtful Evangelicals as they came to realize their own worship styles were of fairly recent vintage. Even more shocking, the worship of the early Church was liturgical in form, Catholic in outlook, and centered upon the Eucharist. As a result, many have either left the Evangelical movement for the historic Churches or sounded a call to return to more traditional patterns of worship within their own traditions.

The final piece of the puzzle is for those in the liturgical Churches to realize the treasures in their own midst and correct abuses that have detrimentally affected their own worship traditions. For those in the Roman Catholic Church who are unfamiliar with the history of early Christian worship, there may be no better starting point than The Mass of the Early Christians by Mike Aquilina. Written for a general audience, Aquilina manages to tie together liturgical styles from disparate sources of the early Church as they reflected on the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Although the book is primarily aimed at Roman Catholics, all Christians from liturgical traditions can read this book with profit and find comfort in the firm historical basis of their own worship. Those who have shunned liturgical worship might after reading this book reconsider their position and wonder what they have been missing. At no point does Aquilina force the Roman Catholic position but to his credit allows the ancient Church to speak for itself.

The first section of the book is a description of the origin and early development of the worship of the Church. Aquilina carefully examines the Jewish roots of the Mass and how the liturgy of the Church is a development of the ancient Jewish worship with the focus now placed on Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the establishment by Jesus of a new and everlasting covenant. The exposition of the Eucharist doctrine and liturgical forms used in the early Church is among the best introductory treatments of the subject as the reader is skillfully brought into contact with the thought of the early Church. After careful consideration of the discussion, readers who have had little exposure to the historical evidence may now see the worship of the Church with new eyes.

In the second part of the book, Aquilina provides primary evidence from the patristic period to support the veracity of his earlier exposition. Of particular interest are liturgical texts used in the early Church. It might be claimed the statements of certain patristic writers are not necessarily representative of the Church as a whole, but when the same themes are echoed in distinct liturgies used in areas separated by great distances, the weakness of this argument is exposed. If one belongs does not worship as the early Church worshipped and does not pray as the early Church prayed, it is also likely they do not believe what the early Church believed.

The book concludes with a fictional reconstruction by Aquilina of what it was probably like to worship in the early Church. This approach is quite compelling as the hard historical evidence provided earlier in the book is fleshed out in this hypothetical account of a Christian family at worship.

Many Christians from traditions not sympathetic to formal liturgy are now taking the historical witness of the early Church seriously. As a basic introduction to the richness of early Christian liturgy, The Mass of the Early Christians is a fine starting point. It is an inspiring account of the patristic mass that calls to the Church, as in the liturgy itself, to "lift up your hearts."

Rating:
Summary: Opening up the Treasures of Catholic History
Review: By opening up the works of the early Church Fathers on the Mass, Mike Aquilina demonstrates the astounding continuity of the Mass celebrated today and the Mass of the early Christians. The extensive excerpts from the Church Fathers also show us the tenacity of the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. By reading this book, Catholics will view their attendance at Mass in a different light as they realize how they are in direct continuity with our ancient ancestors in the faith. Non-Catholics will see how the Mass celebrated today is the direct legacy of those early Christians.

Rating:
Summary: How the Early Mass is like the One you attended Last Sunday
Review: Mike Aquilina shows how the Mass of the early Church is substantively the same as the Mass that you attended the last time you went to Church. A great feature of this book is not only the work of the Church Fathers but toward the end of the book Aquilina recreates the Sunday Mass of the early Church based on the Fathers.

Rating:
Summary: Scriptural Typology
Review: Much of what we read about early Christian worship is speculation. Aquilina gives here a series of lucid and cogent observations from Scripture and the early Church Fathers (and their foes). His conclusions are supported by extensive direct citation from mostly the Edinburgh translation of the Greek and Latin Fathers.

Rating:
Summary: The Church Fathers Speak
Review: Much of what we read about early Christian worship is speculation. Aquilina gives here a series of lucid and cogent observations from Scripture and the early Church Fathers (and their foes). His conclusions are supported by extensive direct citation from mostly the Edinburgh translation of the Greek and Latin Fathers.

Rating:
Summary: The roots of the Church and the Eucharist exposed in glory.
Review: There are those who would have us believe that the Mass as we have it today, is not what the early Christians, an certainly not what Jesus had in mind. Protestant Evangelical Christians may even go so far as to make you believe that the Mass is some form of pagan worship at best, and that it is not Christian in the least. Mike Aquilina here does us a great favor. In a very well documented book, he takes us through the writings of many of the early Church fathers (the first theologians in the first generations after Christ, who knew the apostles, and thus got their teachings straight from the best sources), and he shows us how the Mass came to be. He also shows us how things have really not changed too much over two millenia, in fact some of the very prayers we use at Mass today, were penned in the 2nd century or earlier. For those of you, especially Catholics who have held seeds of doubt as to the validity of the Mass, who have wondered as to whether the Eucharist is really the body and blood of Christ, this book helps to show that those teachings aren't some new fangled invention of later generations, they are rather what Christ taught, and what his body, the Church, has taught since then. The reading can be a little dry at times, but I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Scriptural Typology
Review: What I find fascinating is Scriptural typology for the Mass based on Old Testament foreshadowings or prefigurements. This book's early chapters discuss some interesting typology and the corresponding antitypes, which are relevant for understanding the Eucharist. Moreover, the excerpts from early Christian writers are an excellent resource or reference.
But Old Testament symbolic connections with the Holy Eucharist (centering on wheat and gold) are explored at even greater depth in the book "Why Matter Matters: Philosophical and Scriptural Reflections on the Sacraments" (authored by David P. Lang and published also by Our Sunday Visitor). Chapter 2 titled "Why Wheat Bread?" is especially relevant for the Eucharist, but also Chapter 3 ("Why Grape Wine?") and Chapter 4, part of which treats the association between wheat and olive oil (signifying the Holy Spirit), are pertinent to this whole topic.