More than half a century after its introduction into the Easter liturgy, the rite of the washing of feet on Holy Thursday goes to the heart of what it means to take part in Christian liturgy--as well as to live a Christian life. In Washing Feet: Imitating the Example of Jesus in the Liturgy Today, Thomas O'Loughlin explores the significance of mutual foot washing in early Christian communities and in the rituals of churches today.

Washing Feet is a sound and engaging combination of liturgical theology, historical exploration, and practical pastoral guidance. Clergy, liturgy...

Missionaries go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, while monks live cloistered in a monastery and focus their lives on prayer and studying Scripture--correct? Not exactly. When we study the history of Christian mission, especially from around 500 to 1500 CE, the key missionaries that we constantly encounter are monks. In fact, if we don't have monks in this period then we have very little in the way of Christian mission. Our aim in this book is to examine the phenomenon of missionary monks--those who pursued both a monastic and missionary calling. We will meet the monks and...