Christian Symbol and Ritual: An Introduction

In Christian Symbol and Ritual, Bernard Cooke and Gary Macy offer an accessible and engaging introduction to the topic written from a non-denominational perspective. Cooke and Macy demonstrate that celebration, ritual, and symbol are already central to our lives, even though most do not see their actions as symbolic or ritualistic. They connect central Christian symbols to the symbols and rituals already present in everyday life and place Christian theology in a familiar context. After discussing the characteristics and functions of rituals, they explore different kinds of ritual, including those of friendship, worship, and healing. The authors also examine such questions as how rituals establish and maintain power relationships, how "official" rituals are different from "popular" Christian rituals and devotions, and how Christian rituals function in the process of human salvation. Christian Symbol and Ritual is an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and lay readers.

Religion & Spirituality

Cooke, Bernard

Macy, Gary

Christian Books & Bibles

Oxford University Press

In Christian Symbol and Ritual, Bernard Cooke and Gary Macy offer an accessible and engaging introduction to the topic written from a non-denominational perspective. Cooke and Macy demonstrate that celebration, ritual, and symbol are already central to our lives, even though most do not see their actions as symbolic or ritualistic. They connect central Christian symbols to the symbols and rituals already present in everyday life and place Christian theology in a familiar context. After discussing the characteristics and functions of rituals, they explore different kinds of ritual, including those of friendship, worship, and healing. The authors also examine such questions as how rituals establish and maintain power relationships, how "official" rituals are different from "popular" Christian rituals and devotions, and how Christian rituals function in the process of human salvation. Christian Symbol and Ritual is an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and lay readers.

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West

The Roman Catholic leadership still refuses to ordain women officially or even to recognize that women are capable of ordination. But is the widely held assumption that women have always been excluded from such roles historically accurate? In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were in fact ordained into several ministries. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the eleventh and twelfth centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women's ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the earlier concept of ordination was almost completely erased. The ordination of women, either in the present or in the past, became unthinkable. References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars still hold that women, particularly in the western church, were never "really" ordained. A survey of the literature reveals that most scholars use a definition of ordination that would have been unknown in the early middle ages. Thus, the modern determination that women were never ordained, Macy argues, is a premise based on false terms. Not a work of advocacy, this important book applies indispensable historical background for the ongoing debate about women's ordination.

History

Europe

World

"The Banquet's Wisdom" offers a thoughtful and concise overview of the theologies of the Eucharist during the first 1500 years of western Christianity. Gary Macy's engaging writing style makes the complexity of the topic accessible for readers.

The Banquet's Wisdom: A Short History of the Theologies of the Lord's Supper

Paulist Pr

Spanish translation of Women Deacons.+

Mujeres diáconos: Pasado, presente, futuro (Spanish Edition)

Ditewig, William T.

Zagano, Phyllis

Paulist Press

Do we really know about religion in the Middle Ages? Gary Macy suggests that what most people believe about the Church of the Middle Ages is actually wrong or founded on the perspective of one figure, Aquinas. Now, after two decades of research, Macy explores the truth about medieval religion and the Eucharist in Treasures from the Storeroom, an intriguing look into the forgotten areas of our Christian heritage. Using a wide range of original sources for these articles, Macy discusses such topics as theology, devotion, ecclesiology, and historical methodology. This collection of eight essays provides an important backdrop to the plenary address, The Eucharist and Popular Devotion," presented at the 1997 national convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), since several themes raised in that address are actually summaries of the fuller arguments presented in these articles. By presenting them here as a whole in the form of a book, Macy offers readers a clearer, more systematic look at the themes raised in that address. As comforting as it may be for today's theologians (and others) to pick and choose from the past so that history conveniently leads to their own favorite conclusions, Macy suggests that the Church's true tradition is diversity. Writing to fellow scholars, he offers Treasures from the Storeroom as a text for classroom use and as simply interesting reading. The chapters in Treasures from the Storeroom are *Introduction to The Theologies of the Eucharist in the Early Scholastic Period. A Study of the Salvific Function of the Sacrament According to the Theologians, c. 1080-c.1220, - *The Theological Fate of Beranger's Oath of 1059. Interpreting a Blunder Become Tradition, - *Reception of the Eucharist According to the Theologians: A Case of Diversity in the 13th and14th Centuries, - *Beranger's Legacy as Heresiarch, - *The 'Dogma of Transubstantiation' in the Middle Ages, - *Demythologizing 'the Church 'in the Middle Ages, - *Commentaries on the Mass During the Early Scholastic Period, - and *The Eucharist and Popular Religiosity. - Gary Macy, PhD, teaches at the University of San Diego and is widely published in the areas of medieval theology and devotion."

Treasures from the Storeroom: Medieval Religion and the Eucharist

Liturgical Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Macy, Gary. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Macy, Gary

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Macy, Gary. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Christian Symbol and Ritual: An Introduction

Christian Symbol and Ritual: An Introduction

The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West

The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West

The Banquet's Wisdom: A Short History of the Theologies of the Lord's Supper

Mujeres diáconos: Pasado, presente, futuro (Spanish Edition)

Treasures from the Storeroom: Medieval Religion and the Eucharist