Awareness of the liturgical seasons of the year has increased greatly in recent years, as the popularity of the Common Worship Times and Seasons volume has illustrated.

Churches are constantly looking for ways to enrich their seasonal celebrations, and the first point of better celebration is better understanding.

Advent is one of the least understood and studied of all the seasons. It is as characterised as much by its folk customs as its biblical themes.

This book aims to help create a fuller theology of advent and through this enhance the services that a church delivers.

Kenneth Stevenson is the Bishop of Portsmouth. The author of numerous books, he has served on the Church of England's Liturgical Commission and Doctrine Commission.