Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy

by Cosima Clara Gillhammer

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 20, 2025

Reviews

[Connor Hansford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, and as befits the subject matter, this was a beautiful book; from the cover to the binding, even to the thickness and quality of the paper - it's rare that I've enjoyed holding and 'experiencing' a book as much as what it actually contains. I haven't had a look at the accomonaying website but there is a certain symmetry to this also, that a book which speaks of liturgy drawing in all the senses use multiple mediums to express itself - very clever.

I live in the liturgical world and it's brave indeed to write such a book as this since there are as many people with passionate views about liturgy as there are people who experience it! Dr Gillhammer draws upon her considerable expertise to produce an accessible introduction to some broad themes within liturgy that invites the reader into a loving relationship with a way of doing church that some malign as excessively historic or fussy or claim can 'get in the way' of so-called 'real' worship. Liturgists expecting an in-depth history ought to welcome such a passion popular hymn to its beauty and riches.

In some ways it felt like Felicity Cloake takes on liturgy, which is a compliment. I also learnt a lot that I didn't know and have come away desiring to know more. If that was the intention, consider it acheived!

[Graychin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosima Clara Gillhammer has done us all a great favor with this book. It’s a treasure and I highly recommend it, even if you don’t imagine it’s your sort of reading. As a review of ancient and medieval Catholic liturgy and its influence on art and culture, it’s a surprising page turner, and beautifully illustrated. I finished it in two days and enthusiastically pressed it on my wife, who immediately sent a copy to a friend.

Gillhammer, an Oxford scholar, assumes her readers know little about Christianity, and that what they think they know is probably mistaken. This may be a fair assumption for a popular audience today, but it briefly made me feel like a relict. Catholic Christians still exist, after all, and almost everything Gillhammer describes is still a part of our life at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, the Dominican parish and priory in Portland, Oregon, where I am grateful to be numbered a parishioner.

My uneasy feelings didn’t last long. Gillhammer navigates the shoals comfortably and talks down to no one. I don’t know what her religious background may be, but she accepts her subject on its own terms, and she writes like a believer rather than an anthropologist conducting forensic analysis. Her book is so successful because in the end she provides something more than just a review of history, art, and culture. In a fresh way, she communicates the transformative and paradoxical beauty of Christ’s gospel.

[K.R. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don’t need to be religious to enjoy Cosima Clara Gillhammer’s book Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy, you just need to exist in a dominant culture shaped by centuries of Christianity. Which, if you’re reading this, you probably do.

It provides a rich thematic sampling of liturgical writings and practices, investigating their reflections of—and influences on—how we experience such things as joy and grief, suffering and love, the marking of time, and the dramatic sacralization of spaces.

[Gradon Schaub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! The accompanying website also provides the music referenced in the book which is very helpful.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5