From its inception the Christian church thought of worship and prayer in trinitarian terms. At the heart of this trinitarian concept lay the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ which, in its liturgical expression, presented Christ not merely as the object of prayer, but also as its mediator: prayers were directed to the Father through Christ. The author traces the idea of the priesthood of Christ, and its effects on Christian worship and prayer, from its origins with the earliest Christians, and through the Arian and Apollinarian debates. He then focuses on the Reformed tradition and the influences of John Calvin, John Knox, John Craig, John McLeod Campbell, William Milligan, Theodore Beza, William Perkins, federal theology and the Westminister tradition, and through to the present day.
