Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., has written a brilliant, comprehensive, well-researched book about the treasures of the Church's musical tradition, and about the transformations brought about by liturgical reform. The liturgy constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium stated many revolutionary principles of liturgical reform. Regarding liturgical music, the Council's decrees mandated, on the one hand, the preservation of the inherited treasury of sacred music, and on the other hand, advocated adaptation and expansion of this treasury to meet the changed requirements of the reformed liturgy. In clear, precise language, he retrieves the Council's neglected teachings on the preservation of the inherited music treasury. He clearly shows that this task is not at odds with good pastoral practice, but is rather an integral part of it. The book proposes an alternate hermeneutic for understanding the Second Vatican Council's teachings on worship music.

Disturbed by the direction in which the post Vatican II liturgical reforms have moved, two fictitious representatives of mutually antagonistic movements debate the remedy for "correct" liturgical reform. This unique work presents a debate between a "traditionalist" who argues for a return to the pre-Vatican II liturgy, and a reformist (no liberal himself) who advocates a new liturgical reform more in keeping with what the Council fathers had in mind. They bring to the debate the insights of renowned authorities on the liturgy, including Cardinal Ratzinger, Msgr. Klaus Gamber, Michael Davies, Fr. Brian Harrison and Fr. Aidan Nichols. This book is written for anyone interested in the Church's liturgy, and the controversies surrounding the liturgical renewal. It is both a primer for those who lack the theological and liturgical expertise to articulate their dissatisfaction with the state of the liturgy, and an excellent resource for those specialists who would appreciate having a single volume for consulting salient points from numerous authorities.

Examines whether there should be reforms in the liturgy of the Mass, after the changes instituted after Vatican II.

In True Reform, Massimo Faggioli takes Sacrosanctum Concilium as an interpretive key to the Second Vatican Council. He offers a thorough reflection on the relationship between the liturgical constitution and the whole achievement of Vatican II and argues that the interconnections between the two must emerge if we want to understand the impact of the council on global Catholicism

When Benedict XVI reestablished the celebration of the older Latin Mass, voices of protest rose up from many sides. This book explains the motives behind the Pope's decision to allow two forms of the Mass by turning to the Pope's own theological and liturgical writings and also draws on the author's experiences on various Church commissions and in offices of the Roman Curia. The author also brings to his subject an astute understanding of current social and spiritual trends both inside and outside the Church. Sensitive to modern man's hunger for the sacred, he desires with Pope Benedict XVI that the Mass be first and foremost a place of encounter with the living God. --Publisher.