ABSTRACT
The fields of Roger Reynolds' publication and teaching programmes have been broad and covered many individual topics, all linked to the central concern of understanding medieval culture and the medieval church. As has Reynolds' work, they contribute to deeper knowledge of the periods they discuss, and, just as Reynolds' program of teaching and writing, provide the rich historical context needed for contemporary debates. While the Second Vatican Council was meeting in Rome, Roger Reynolds was moving from study at Harvard Divinity School to work on his doctorate at Harvard's graduate school of arts and sciences. Eric Palazzo's contribution on hyssop, the aromatic herb used in sprinkling lustral water during the dedication of a church, exemplifies the scholarship and contextual study that Reynolds has brought to interpreting narrative accounts of ritual events. Virginia Brown, one of Reynolds' collaborators in the program, picks up on the theme of a liturgical script in her article.
