Reverend John P. Schanz, Ph.D., is Professor of Theology at Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania. He has long been associated with liturgical and sacramental scholarship through his writings, which include the predecessor to this volume, The Sacraments of Life and Worship (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1966).

Beginning with an exposition of religion and ritual worship as a constant in human life, Father Schanz brings the reader to the biblical statement of a loving God who gave himself to humankind through the Father's free gift of his Son to form a new family. Thus, saving history comes to a climax in a sacramental Church. Here Father Schanz shows the sacraments to be the actualization of Christ's saving acts alive through word and rite in the world today.