Without doubt, the gravest symptom in the crisis the Western Church is currently undergoing-the effects of which on art have already denounced in the author's book The Symbolism of the Christian Temple-is the calling into question of the very meaning and content of the Mass, given that it is the heart and vital center of the Church. The intention of this book, however, is not to engage in theological disputes directly, but rather to survey the field from the vantage-point of the history of religion, and to unravel the characteristics of the Christian liturgy that link it to the universality of the sacred.

"Through his research into hidden or lost meanings, Jean Hani has revealed and restored to our attention the most 'initiatic' dimensions of the Christian religion." Jean Borella, author of The Secret of the Christian Way, and The Crisis of Religious Symbolism (forthcoming from Angelico Press)

Jean Hani (1917-2012), former professor emeritus at the University of Amiens, was the founder of the Centre de Recherche sur l'Antiquité Classique and a frequent contributor to the journal Connaissance des Religions. After writing his PhD thesis on the influence of Egyptian thought upon Plutarch, he produced annotated translations of the latter's writings for the well-known Collection Budé. Later he became known for his mastery of traditional hermeneutics and exegesis, and his broad knowledge in the field of comparative religion. Hani's writing is sensitive to the predicament of those moderns who seek a firm foundation in traditional Christian values, while striving also to integrate into that foundation whatever of value can be salvaged from the contemporary world. His findings were presented in four important works now available from Angelico Press in translation: the present volume, along with Divine Craftsmanship (Preliminaries to a Spirituality of Work), The Symbolism of the Christian Temple, and The Black Virgin (A Marian Mystery).