In this interesting book, Juliette Day sets out to investigate the functions of textuality within the liturgical act and to explore its role in the generation of meaning. She makes use of the work of a number of scholars in a variety of disciplines in order to do this, and her footnotes and bibliography provide a rich resource for further study. The book would be very useful for a graduate course in liturgical theology or a seminar in liturgical hermeneutics.

The book is clearly organized into eight chapters in which the author explores the following topics: text, authorship, genre, narrative, intertextuality, language, paratext, and worship. Day recognizes that the term “text” can be used in a broad manner to include all of the signifiers in a worship event. However, in most instances, she uses the term in its more restricted sense to refer to the printed and written words of the liturgy. In treating the topic of the authorship of liturgical texts, Day notes that authorship is often a collaborative process that eventually leads to the creation of a text to be used in worship.

The complexity of the task of classifying liturgical texts is discussed in the chapter on genre, but three principal genres are identified: prose, poetry, and prayer. A number of subgenres are associated with each of these. While there is much that is helpful in this chapter, two concerns arise. In her discussion of the possibility of transgressing genre through creativity, Day refers to the subgenre of anaphora with its common structural features. The concern here is that the emphasis on common structural features does not adequately recognize the diversity of anaphoral structures in the Christian tradition. A second concern arises with the author's claim that worshippers can pick up generic clues in relation to liturgical texts and that this recognition affects the way they hear and interpret the text. While this is an interesting proposal, it is not supported by any empirical data.

The chapters on narrative and intertextuality introduce a number of interesting topics. In exploring the way in which an individual person's narrative can be determined by the narrative of salvation presented in worship, Day makes use of Alasdair MacIntyre's notion of “embedded narrative” and suggests that participation in the liturgy allows one to embed one's narrative within the narrative of salvation presented in worship. She notes that mystagogical catechesis can help people make the connection. By intertextuality Day means the insertion of textual material from elsewhere into the liturgical text. That which is inserted is the intertext. She calls attention to the importance of making connections between texts for the process of creating meaning, and recognizes the significance of both the cultural context and the network of textual relations brought by worshippers for the interpretive process.

At the beginning of the chapter on language there is a very clear statement of the author's position that “language expressed in written texts which are then spoken constitutes the principal part of a liturgical event” (103). While she recognizes that rituals, music, place, and people also make up the event, she states that “it is the words which are the constant and shared feature of the liturgy” (103). Here and elsewhere in the book there is a certain ambiguity about the meaning of rituals or ritual. The term is never defined but often seems to refer to actions that accompany a text. In her chapter on paratext Day focuses on the material in a liturgical book that is not the liturgical text itself. Her interest is on elements such as titles, notes, rubrics, page layout, and so on that affect the performance and interpretation of the text.

In the final chapter on worship Day explores textuality in relation to repetition and participation and then goes on to offer some ideas about textual worship and meaning. Influenced by Mark Searle and others, she emphasizes the role played by liturgical texts in the creation of relationships among worshippers and between them, Christ, and God. In the conclusion of the chapter she develops this idea by suggesting that liturgical texts can act as thresholds in worship, facilitating the passage of participants into God's presence.

This is a well-written book that has the potential to stimulate interesting discussion among its readers.