Letter and Spirit by Scott Hahn

“What is different about reading the Bible in a classroom and hearing it read in Church? That is the question Scott Hahn addresses in this lively and informative book. His answer is that when the Bible is read in Christian worship it becomes the living Christ present in the midst of his people. In crisp and concise prose, Letter and Spirit offers an introduction to the history, theology, and present liturgical practice of the Christian reading of the Scriptures in the Eucharist. After reading Hahn, one will never doze when the Scriptures are read in Church.” —Robert Louis Wilken, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the History of Christianity,University of Virginia; author of The Spirit of Early Christian Thought; and past president of the North American Patristic Society

“The spirit of the great theologians Danielou and Congar breathes anew in this work of Dr. Scott Hahn. Letter and Spirit promises to become a classic in the revitalization of the liturgical renewal begun by Vatican II.” —Very Reverend Kurt Belsole, O.S.B. Rector, Saint Vincent Seminary

“This is a most important book and needs to be very carefully read and studied. Every devout Catholic should be spiritually fed by Scripture and liturgy. Obviously these two are meant to go together. In ways that you probably have never thought of, Scott Hahn brings the two together and relates them in a most integrated way. This book could be a new vista in your own spiritual life.” —Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, author of In the Presence of the Lord

“An appealingly fresh retrieval of the art of reading and living Scripture through the lens of liturgy and worship. Paraphrasing St. Francis de Sales, Hahn offers us the Bible, not so much as read, but as sung. Scholars will find biblical and theological acuteness; students and general readers, excellent scholarship expressed in friendly ways. Highly recommended.” —Dr. William Thompson-Uberuaga, Professor of Theology, Duquesne University, and past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America

“Scott Hahn’s new book, Letter and Spirit, betokens the resurgence of the art of mystagogy—the spiritual exegesis of the liturgy. A late blossom on the stem of the twentieth-century ‘Ressourcement,’ it will help to heal the eyes with which we read Holy Scripture. This has to be one of Scott Hahn’s very best books—one that will excite scholars and nonspecialists in equal measure.” —Stratford Caldecott, G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith and Culture, Oxford

“This is a wonderful book . . . Hahn’s exposition is lucid, accessible to any serious layperson, and a wonderful synthesis and summation concerning what it means to ‘pray the Scriptures’ in a life-transforming way.” —Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey, Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities, Baylor University