First, I thank all concerned for the invitation to deliver the Moorhouse Lectures in Melbourne, Australia, and secondly, all who have asked me to give parts of these lectures in other places, in particular the Bishop of British Columbia in Victoria B.C. I am grateful for comments and suggestions made in many places and by many friends.

The literature on the topic is immense and much that I would have liked to study further has gone unremarked. As it is, I owe an apology to all concerned for the delay in presenting these lectures for publication.

Certain themes have been touched on in my early book, Remaking the Liturgy (Collins, 1967), but liturgical studies and revisions have moved since then and the careful reader may notice differences between the two books. I have sought to remove a number of features which were more appropriate to the original lecture form of the theme and apologise for any elements which ought to have been corrected.

For New Testament books I use the following abbreviations: Mt., Mk., L., J., A., R., IC, 2C, G., Ph. (Philippians), C, IT. (I Timothy), H., Rv. A variant reading in the passage cited is indicated by ‘v.l’

Finally I must acknowledge the patience and helpfulness of officers of the Cambridge University Press.