© Columbia University Press
The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of William Durand of Mende: A New Translation of the Prologue and Book One
Paper, 168 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-14181-9
$18.50
/ £13.00
November, 2007
Cloth, 168 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-14180-2
$40.00
/ £27.50
"We are indebted to Thibodeau for making this accessible to students and scholars, and the more general reader, for a long time to come." — Kenneth Stevenson, Journal of Theological Studies
"[Thibodeau's] long and close engagement with the text is . . . unrivalled in undertaking an Enlgish translation of the prologue and first book." — John Harper, Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryBangor University
"The work that Timothy M. Thibodeau has done with Père Davril has secured him high esteem in academic circles. The fact that Thibodeau has consecrated much of his professional career to this subject makes him one of the world class experts on Durandus. I cannot say enough about his scholarship." — Michael Driscoll, associate professor of theology, University of Notre Dame
"William Durand of Mende's Rationale Divinorum Officiorum is the most comprehensive source for our knowledge of worship in the late-medieval Western Church. It offers an engaging exposition of a complex and subtle semiotic system involving the personnel, gestures, ornamentation, and architecture of the ritual action. Easy access to the present sample of Durand's work will be useful not only to liturgical historians and theologians but to medievalists in general and all students of culture." — Geoffrey Wainwright, Cushman Professor of Theology, Duke University
"For most modern students and even most scholars of the Middle Ages, the symbolism of the liturgy and physical structure of the church and its fittings remain terra incognita. Yet these rites, arts, structures, and allegorical understandings were essential elements of that world. Timothy M. Thibodeau's book makes available a central text opening rich and complex fields to a broad range of readers." — Richard W. Kaeuper, professor of history, University of Rochester