Words Around the Table

NEW COPY OUT OF PRINT BOOK

Words Around the Table

by: Gail Ramshaw

What do Christians do when they gather on Sunday? What do the words and deeds mean? Where have the meanings come from? Where do they send us? We read in the Introduction, "During the early centuries of the church, apologists, theologians and bishops wrote and preached on the meaning of the eucharistic liturgy. This is what we mean, said Justin, Ambrose, Cyril and so many others, when we meet on Sunday, when we say these words, when we chant these songs".

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About the Author:

Gail Ramshaw is a scholar of liturgical language. A graduate of Valparaiso University (BA), Sarah Lawrence College (MA), the University of Wisconsin–Madison (PhD) and Union Theological Seminary (MDiv), she lives outside of Washington, D.C. A past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, a recipient of the NAAL Berakah award, and a member of Societas Liturgica, she is a Professor Emerita of Religion at La Salle University.

Ramshaw has published many books that encourage renewed liturgical practice, including More Days for Praise, a guide to the Lutheran sanctoral cycle (Augsburg Fortress 2016); Praying for the Whole World, a guidebook for crafting the intercessions (Augsburg Fortress 2016); Pray, Praise, and Give Thanks, a collection of her litanies, laments, thanksgivings at the font and eucharistic prayers (Augsburg Fortress 2017); A Three-Year Banquet: The Lectionary for the Assembly (Augsburg Fortress 2004); The Three-Day Feast: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter (Augsburg Fortress 2004); Forty Days and Forty Nights, devotions for Lent (Augsburg Fortress 2006); and Richer Fare for the Christian People, reflections on the Lectionary readings (Pueblo 1990).

Her works about liturgical language include Treasures Old and New: Images in the Lectionary (Fortress 2002); Reviving Sacred Speech (OSL Publications 1999); God beyond Gender (Fortress 1995); and Liturgical Language: Keeping It Metaphoric, Making It Inclusive (Liturgical Press 1996). Her works on liturgical spirituality include A Metaphorical God (LTP 1995) and the Words series: Words Around the Fire, Words Around the Table, Words Around the Font and Words That Sing (LTP 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995). She has published two textbooks: What Is Christianity? An Introduction to the Christian Religion (Fortress, 2013) and Christian Worship: 100,000 Sundays of Symbols and Rituals (Fortress, 2009). Her set of personal essays is entitled Under the Tree of Life: The Religion of a Feminist Christian (OSL 2003, 1998). Her children’s books include 1-2-3 Church, Everyday and Sunday Too, and Sunday Morning.

Ramshaw has provided the Lectionary Notes for Augsburg Fortress’s online Sundays & Seasons. She collaborated with Paivi Jussila on Koinonia, a worship resource published by the Lutheran World Federation, and with Gordon Lathrop on inclusive language revisions of the Sunday lectionary texts, in Psalter for the Christian People (Liturgical Press 1993) and in Readings for the Assembly, Years A, B, C (Augsburg Fortress 1995, 1996, 1997). Her prayers have been included in denominational worship resources published in the United States, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand, and she has lectured on liturgical language in the United States, Canada, the Nordic countries, and the Far East.