The Apostolic Tradition: Its Origins, Development, and Liturgical Practices

2026 Catholic Media Association Third Place Award, History of Theology, Church Fathers and Mothers

Renowned liturgical scholars offer, for the first time anywhere, English translations and commentary of new witnesses to the Apostolic Tradition.  
 
In recent years, a number of new witnesses to the so-called Apostolic Tradition have been discovered or freshly edited for the first time. Among them is a new, recently discovered Ethiopic version of the Apostolic Tradition contained in the Aksumite Collection edited by Alessandro Bausi. Also, the Arabic version of the Clementine Octateuch, while known for some time, has only recently been edited by Martin Lüstraeten, allowing scholars access to this important witness. Each of these witnesses provides valuable insights into the origins and development of the Apostolic Tradition.      
 
Based on these new witnesses, as well as new secondary literature, the translations and commentary provided in this book updates and challenges earlier and more recent studies with special regard to liturgical practices. In addition, English translations of these witnesses are provided for the first time anywhere. Revisiting an earlier claim held by J. M. Hanssens, SJ, this study also argues that the final redaction of the text likely occurred within an Egyptian orbit.

Nathan P. Chase (1990-2025) was assistant professor of liturgical and sacramental theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. He contributed articles to the field of liturgical studies, including pieces on liturgy in the early Church, initiation, the Eucharist, inculturation, and the Western Non-Roman Rites, particularly the Hispano-Mozarabic tradition. With Maxwell E. Johnson, he co-authored The Apostolic Tradition: Its Origins, Development, and Liturgical Practices (Liturgical Press, 2025), and The Origins of the Canons of Hippolytus (Liturgical Press, 2024). He was the author of The Homiliae Toletanae and the Theology of Lent and Easter (Peeters, 2020) and The Anaphoral Tradition in the ‘Barcelona Papyrus’ (Brepols, 2023).

Maxwell E. Johnson is emeritus professor of liturgy at the University of Notre Dame and a retired presbyter in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. His numerous publications are on the origins and development of early Christian liturgy, contemporary rites, and current ecumenical and theological questions in both East and West. He is the author and/or editor of more than twenty-five books and over one hundred essays and articles. He is also a former president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, a member of the Society of Oriental Liturgy, a member of Societas Liturgica, and a member of the scientific advisory board for the journal Ecclesia Orans. He has received the Berakah Award from the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Christus Rex Award from the Liturgical Studies Institute at Valparaiso University.