Klaas-Willem de Jong, Wim Moehn and their entire assembled research team have achieved a remarkable accomplishment. The substantial volume includes a systematic overview of the Dutch Reformed liturgy throughout the turbulent time period indicated in the title. Despite the political and religious chaos of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the Low Countries and Dutch Republic, among the most significant conclusions of the voluminous study is the noted consistency among the multitude of editions of the various forms. The printed liturgy was, the book concludes, dynamic given shifts in the Church, theology and society, but only to a certain extent (p. 522).

The volume is helpful in providing theological and historical context for the liturgies under study. The first four chapters present the liturgical texts not merely as a doctrinal document but as a living part of church and social life, a theme that is returned to in the concluding chapter as well. To that end, Chapter ii provides a helpful discussion of the historical contexts of the creation of the texts, including the role played by national synods leading up to and including the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618–19. In addition, the crucial role of Petrus Dathenus in gathering and editing the final form of the published volume including the liturgy combined with the Heidelberg Catechism and psalter is rightfully highlighted. Similarly, Chapter iii helpfully attends to the important and formative role the printers played in the creation and distribution of the editions of the liturgical forms. That chapter in particular and the initial chapters as a whole provide a reminder that the liturgies did not emerge in a vacuum but were physical, experienced documents that responded and contributed to real historical, theological contexts.

Chapters v–xi include forms used in a number of parts of Dutch Reformed ecclesiastical life: infant baptism, the Lord’s Supper, marriage, office bearers, discipline and adult baptism, respectively. Each chapter contains an introduction and the primary source texts themselves. I found each of the introductions to be thorough and helpful, providing helpful context to the texts themselves. The forms in each chapter are, in my view, the largest contribution this volume makes for future scholarship. Having such a wide array of texts gathered together in one volume is a remarkable resource for scholars who are interested in analysing the texts themselves as well as comparative studies among editions.

Chapter xii is particularly fascinating. That chapter, by far the longest at nearly two hundred pages, contains over a dozen formulaic prayers used in a variety of contexts. These understudied prayers indicate how prevalent printed prayers were in the early modern Dutch Reformed religious experience. This is a point that has received too little scholarly attention. As the chapter notes (pp. 334–8), the prayers connect the Dutch Reformed tradition to the broader Reformed tradition. These prayers demonstrate that the liturgical forms of the Dutch Reformed Church stretched beyond the official ecclesiastical functions in the lives of everyday Dutch Reformed Christians.

Chapter xiii, written in English, acts as a conclusion that summarises key points drawn from the volume’s research. Those points, including important reflections on the roles of the printers, churches, government in relation to the liturgy, are brief but important in providing helpful analysis of the massive amounts of material presented in the volume.

In addition, the conclusion suggests avenues of further research, including further attention to potentially rich explorations of the spirituality of the time period via attention to the use of printed prayer books and biblical marginalia. The editors also rightly suggest that studies that explore the role of the printed liturgy in Dutch colonial locales would provide a more complete picture of early modern Dutch Reformed religious life. That emphasis on how these forms were enacted in local congregations.is, in my view, one of the most important avenues for further research to pursue. The emphasis of the present volume is not so much focused on how ministers and communities put the liturgy into practice in worship or how liturgical performance shaped daily religious life; pursuing those research questions would provide a fascinating expansion of the work begun here.

The book also includes two extensive appendices which catalogue the numerous editions of the Dutch Reformed liturgy. Those appendices span approximately one hundred pages and provide meticulous details about the extant editions. Chapters xi and xii also include helpful appendices. Some readers may find the level of detail, particularly in appendix 1, exhausting or fruitless, but it provides an excellent resource for scholars interested in further research which the book opens up.

Practical issues may limit the book’s audience. Almost the entirety of the book is written in Dutch, which, of course, will confine it to Dutch-reading audiences. The level of detail in the material presented lends itself to those who study, broadly defined, Dutch church history or who have continued confessional ties to the Dutch Reformed tradition. Bringing this and subsequent Dutch Reformed-focused research into conversation with other Reformed liturgies would present fascinating insights. In addition, the entire volume runs to well over 600 pages, which will keep most readers from a straight-through reading of the book. None the less, de Jong makes clear (p. 524) that the purpose of the volume is to stimulate further research. In that way, the volume is an undeniable success that will serve as an essential reference work for scholars interested in the Dutch Reformed tradition and Reformed liturgies for the foreseeable future.