Christian Life and Worship

S J Gerald Ellard, Adé de Bethune

$82.95 $70.69

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

OS Justi Press
17 October 2025

Fr. Gerald Ellard's Christian Life and Worship, originally published in 1933 with a last and expanded edition in 1950, is being republished today for its value as a once-popular and revelatory document of the Liturgical Movement's middle phase, between the original phase inaugurated by Dom Guéranger (who emphasized education in existing, inherited rites) and the radical phase of the postconciliar ""reform"" (which rewrote all of the rites according to modern presuppositions).

On the one hand, Fr. Ellard movingly sings the praises of the traditional (Tridentine) sacramental rites as practiced in the Roman Church at the time of the book's composition, drawing on Scripture and the Church Fathers to illuminate their meaning and increase the faithful's fruitful participation. In keeping with the movement's appeal to the Christian imagination, the chapters are adorned with simple but expressive drawings by a well-known artist of the time, Adé de Bethune. The running commentaries on the texts of the Mass and the other sacraments are unquestionably edifying.

On the other hand, the book is filled with confident historical assumptions and assertions that would, later on, come under intense critical scrutiny and often be refuted by better research-alas, not before they had been enthusiastically adopted in wave after wave of reforms culminating in the creation of new rites in the 1960s, which marked so radical a departure from tradition that even a relatively ""avant garde"" book like Ellard's became practically irrelevant overnight.

Christian Life and Worship thus serves as a reminder both of the Liturgical Movement's often noble aims and of the catastrophic effects of reformatory zeal unchecked by profound respect for what is given and received.

By: S J Gerald Ellard
Illustrated by: Adé de Bethune
Imprint: OS Justi Press
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 29mm
Weight: 780g
ISBN: 9781965303528
ISBN 10: 1965303528
Pages: 442
Publication Date: 17 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for Christian Life and Worship

Endorsements for the original edition ""Faith and practice will have small significance and less effect until the meaning and necessity of the sacraments are understood. Father Ellard's book will supply these needs clearly and interestingly and thoroughly, and create the joy and the power that comes from knowing what we do and why we do it."" -Commonweal ""Father Ellard succeeds in making the liturgical life eminently practical, and altogether imperative for integral Christian living, for every member of the Church. The book is a conclusive argument against the prevalent objection that the liturgical revival is too 'high' for the common man and can never hope to reach beyond the elite."" -Orate Fratres ""Here is a book...that meets a vital need-more than that, a painful need. The faithful of our own day are suffering a kind of divine discontent.... The sooner this work is put into the hands of our Catholic college students and of the faithful, too, the sooner shall we be able to welcome that much-needed revolution in the devotional attitude of the people which the Pope himself is so intent upon bringing about."" -America ""Like a spring freshet, Father Ellard's splendid book comes to enlighten and nourish our liturgical consciousness."" -The Sign