For many Roman Catholics, heated argument for or against this or that liturgical reform has been endemic since the end of Vatican II. The apparent nature of the recent reforms, and the manner of their introduction, have probably done much to confirm the suspicion so many of us had, and still have, that the liturgy is solely concerned with the officially prescribed pattern governing the administration of public worship. While the pattern is important, it must remain subject to what it mediates. It is the nature of the latter that Father Verheul explains through this introduction to the theology of the liturgy. Father Verheul’s book will help us to replace a knowledge of the liturgy which often amounts to no more than an awareness of past custom and recent renewal, with a grounding in the basic theology of the liturgy. As he says in his Preface: ‘A renewal that lacks a theological background cannot make a definitive and permanent breakthrough. The purpose of this book is to supply that background.