There are fifty-two eucharistic prayers studied in this book: the official texts of the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church in the U.S., several Lutheran Churches in North America, the United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The contributors to this volume are scholars from these church bodies who participated in the work of the Eucharistic Prayer Study Group of the North American Academy of Liturgy, an ecumenical professional society of liturgists. This book tells the story of how these prayers developed. It illustrates the way the various churches dealt with historical traditions and contemporary concerns, worship and culture, piety and theology. The essays in the second part of the book analyze the component parts of the prayers, looking at them across the ecumenical spectrum of the texts. They reveal both an impressive consensus on what should go into the eucharistic prayers, as well as many unresolved questions. The final part of the book deals with this ongoing agenda. Frank C. Senn is Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston, Illinois, and President of The Liturgical Conference. Among his recent publications are 'Christian Liturgy--Catholic and Evangelical' (1997), 'A Stewardship of the Mysteries' (1999), and 'New Creation: A Liturgical Worldview' (2000). He is also a writer, spiritual director, sometime university professor, husband, and father of three children.
