This new edition of Father Yarnold's 1972 authoritative work has been recast so that it corresponds throughout with the Rite of Christian Initiation as it now exists. Anyone with a serious pastoral or scholarly interest in the rite will benefit from this definitive, readable blend of history, theology, patristics, and liturgy. Each period and step of the RCIA is explained and compared to the fourth-century rite after which the modern one was modeled. In addition to more subtle improvements, this second edition gives a clearer and more accurate account of the three anointings, and a better explanation of the scrutinies. The sermons of Cyril, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Theodore, which form the basis of our understanding of the rite as originally celebrated, are conveniently gathered in this one volume in an accurate and readable English translation, with introductions and notes.

A comprehensive survey of the doctrine and practice of baptism in the first five centuries of Christian history, arranged geographically within chronological periods.

The sacramental economy was instituted by Christ and entrusted to His Church in order to build up the Body of Christ in a twofold communion: binding the members together with God and one another. Touched by Christ: The Sacramental Economy is an introductory course on Sacramental Theology suitable for all who seek a deeper understanding of how the Church’s sacraments constitute channels of grace, nurture supernatural life, and heal us from our sins. Lawrence Feingold expertly describes the nature of the sacraments; their purpose, fittingness, and relationship with Christ and the New Covenant; their relationship with the Old Covenant rites that prefigured them; the character and grace that they communicate; and the nature of their causality. Touched by Christ shows that the sacraments of the New Covenant should be understood as instruments of Christ’s humanity that are used as words of power to communicate the sanctification that they signify, infuse grace, communicate the Holy Spirit, and build up ecclesial communion in those who receive them with the right dispositions.

St. Augustine (354-430), a theologian whose views and controversies shaped the course of Christianity in the West, was also a struggling North African pastor who had a flair for teaching and who meditated deeply on the complexities of the human heart. This study examines a little-known side of Augustine; his work as a teacher of candidates for baptism. It reconstructs the experience of the ancient catechumenate. The portrait is relevant to all those involved with the RCIApastors, DREs, catechists, liturgists.