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From Age to Age: How Christians Have Celebrated the Eucharist

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This book covers the history of the liturgy and Christianity from the first century to the present day. Although this is a large time span, Foley breaks down each chapter into several concentrations. Some examples include architecture, music, vessels, and books used in worship. Each catergory is then broken down into sub-catergories that focus on specific objects, clothing, structures, and other aspects specific to the liturgies. Through the format of this book, it is easy for one (especially one who is not at all familiar with the history of the liturgy or Catholic Church) to follow it through the centruries. This is a good starting point for those that want to learn about the geographical setting, the major religious figures, and the evolution of the liturgy. For others, this book will allow one to look more deeply at the role and evolution of specific liturgical practices through the descriptive details and numerous pictures--including maps, architectural layouts, and music from each century. This is a great book for all!

Foley walks you through the history of Christian liturgy in several different ages, from the beginnings of Christian worship, to the height of Gothic Christianity, to the practices of today. Beginning each era with a dramatization/story from the perspective of the worshiper, Foley makes clear the point of Christian liturgy - to personally engage the worshiper in the liturgy. Each era also includes a discussion or art, architecture and music. While the book is scholarly in nature, it is certainly not only for academics and can be approached by all.

First, this is an interesting book on an interesting subject--how the Eucharist was celebrated throughout history. It's easy to read and with tons of illustrations. The pictures alone make this book worthwhile to anyone interested in history.

That said, I was surprised by the lack of discussion on the Eucharist itself and how it was regarded in the church. Apparently the author was more interested in a discussion of the vessels, the music, and the architecture.

In the chapter on the first century, the author can only say, "In this time, it is not the things--not even the bread and wine--that are important, but the community. The believers more than any single food are the body of Christ" (p 21).

Yet Paul said that those who ate the Eucharist unworthily brought death upon themselves. And here is 1 Cor "the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"

This book surveys the rich history of the Western Christian worship for the last two thousand years, concentrating on the Eucharist. Here, I suggest two additions/changes.
I think there is a missing area in this book that needs to be covered, that is the Eastern Christians' celebration of Eucharist. If Christian Eucharist in the East needs a separate volume, I suggest changing the title of the book to: "From Age to Age: How Western Christians have Celebrated the Eucharist." It is true that the first chapter traces early Christian worship in Palestine and other parts of the East; however, immediately after that period of time, the concentration of the book is on Western Christianity.
While the author is a professor at a Catholic seminary, he covered the "Reform and Counter-Reform" (Chapter six) in an excellent way. I was hoping for the author to also include how the Eastern Church, both Orthodox and Protestant, developed this area in all the aspects that was handled in the book, i.e., architecture, music, books, vessels and Eucharistic theology. For example, on the one hand, the architecture of the Coptic churches seems to be different from those of the churches in the West. On the other, there are some similarities among them. In addition, the architecture, music and books of the protestant churches in the East took a completely different route from those in the West in their development. (Gawdat Gabra and Gertrud J.M. van Loon, "The Churches of Egypt," is an excellent book in this area, which shows the architecture of both the Orthodox and Protestant churches in Egypt). However, in these Eastern protestant churches, vessels and Eucharistic theology continued to be the same as their Western sister churches.
One more area that needs some revision: It is worth noticing that the author indicates under the architecture of "Home" (see p. 8) that during the first century there were some multistory apartment buildings (Illustration 8). It seems that this may be the case in Europe during that period of time or a couple of centuries after. However, in the Middle East, especially in Palestine, during the first two centuries (C.E.) the multistory buildings were not known. In addition, the floor plan of the homes of the wealthy was completely different, yet still a single floor home (e.g., see Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, p. 29, 33). I personally saw similar village homes when I used to live in the Middle East. Some of these homes include an additional room on the roof mainly for guests. So, this upstairs room (sometimes called the roof room) was only a single room, not a whole second story apartment. That room was a little larger than the downstairs rooms and had nicer furniture. This may explain the idea of having the Upper Room, where Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples (Matt. 26:26-29 and parallels).
In brief, this is a wonderful book that really serves its purpose. I wish to make it available to a wider audience, especially in low churches, to help them see the wonderful heritage of Christianity and the rich rituals we had.

Adel Malek

Foley did this new edition following the original by 16 years to "enhance the scope and content of the book so that it might be more useful as a textbook [in religious studies], even at the graduate level." Thus, this revision has more technical terms and words in languages other than English. This tilt of the content is modest, however, and does not stray much from the author's "original intent...to write an accessible book for lay people that would introduce them to something of the richness of our eucharistic history." The non-English words, for example, are explained and translated upon their first appearance in the text.

This major study of eucharistic history may now be even of more interest to lay persons as well as students with the considerable expansion of the illustrations and quotations. Many of the quotes, often fairly lengthy, are run in the wide outer margins; they alone offer a sketch of eucharistic history. And the varied illustrations are so plentiful that the work could be described as an "illustrated history."

The sacrament of the Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion, has been a fundamental part of Christianity since its inception. The Last Supper where the twelve apostles shared bread and wine with Jesus before his crucifixion is seen as the origins of the Eucharist. As one of the holiest, meaningful, and venerated parts of Catholicism and some Christian sects, the Eucharist hasn't changed that much since its origin. Devout participants believe, as they always have, they are engaging in communion with Christ by having tokens of bread and wine consecrated by a priest in a mass. For the most, the history of the Eucharist is not a history of ideas or theories or controversies about it, but rather a history of material culture surrounding it. Foley thus follows the architecture of the dwellings (beginning with homes followed by churches and cathedrals), vessels and other objects such as platters, liturgy as recorded in books, music, and artistic representations and imagery regarding the Eucharist.

As the sacrament is performed at an altar in a church, the location of the altar is significant. Floor plans and architectural drawings of churches through the ages locate the altar in the changed architecture of different eras. As the design of altars and areas for them changed from era to era, so too did religious music change to mirror the secular music of different eras. Changes in vessels and liturgy were not so pronounced as with church architecture and music; though Foley gives due attention to these.

The new, revised edition is only an improvement on what was already a basic text striking just the right tone of informative breadth and depth, scholarship, visual content, and thoroughness to appeal to all readers with an interest in its central religious topic.

This is a very good book that carries the reader through the history of worship from the early church to the present day. The subtitle is a bit deceptive. This is more that a study of how the eucharist has been celebrated throughout the ages. This book also covers many other aspects of worship, such as music, architecture, and the various types of vessels and art that have been employed in worship throughout the ages. Another thing that makes the book good is the way that the quotations are put on the side instead of in the body of the text. This makes the read less cumbersome. There are 364 quotes from original documentation and 240 picture illustrations including maps, ancient fragments, architectural designs, vessels, relics and much more.

Foley unfolds the church ages in seven chapters or ages. At the end of each age is a fictitious story that shows the reader what church would have been like for various people throughout the ages. I have found these stories to be very helpful and this book is a great read and a great resource.

Professor of Liturgy and Music Edward Foley presents From Age: How Christians Have Celebrated the Eucharist, an in-depth historical study of the Christian Eucharist from its Jewish roots to its practice in the modern day. Scattered black-and-white images illustrate the thoughtful and scholarly text, which discusses the theology of each age of history as well as the cultural contexts that affected the Eucharist. Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, From Age to Age is the definitive reference and resource for anyone studying this venerable tradition of Christian worship.

This is a beautiful and interesting book, ideal for people wanting a good history of the Church.