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The Oxford History of Christian Worship

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When I first heard this text was in preparation, I couldn't wait for its release. I have studied theology, church history, and liturgy, and have made some attempts to piece the three together in various ways, but this book in many ways represents a convergence of my interests in a singularly interesting way. As is often the case with such texts from Oxford, it is comprehensive, authoritative, well illustrated, well documented, and well constructed. According to the preface, 'Christian worship has a history of two thousand years and, by now, a global reach. This book traces its winding course and describes its varied manifestations in ways suited to the general reader as well as to historians, theologians, and scholars of religion.' The book is also useful as reference for students, church-goers and liturgists who wish to learn more about the history and development not only of the broader sweep of Christian practice, but also their own particular traditions or denominations.

There are overlapping ideas of organisation of the text. The primary principle is chronological arrangement, breaking from there into geographical and confessional/denominational identity. Many of the thirty-four chapters are devoted to specific practices of traditions in a time or place (for example, the chapter on 'Anglicans and Dissenters' by Bryan D. Spinks traces Anglican worship from the early 1500s to the present in England), whereas some chapters are devoted to more general considerations ('Women in Worship' by Teresa Berger or 'Liturgical Music' by William T. Flynn).

The first chapter, by editor Geoffrey Wainwright, sets the tone for this broad study of Christian worship. He looks at issues in worship and liturgy from scriptural and theological bases - there is a highlighted essay entitle 'Liturgy and/as Language' which describes the complex system of verbal and non-verbal symbols and signs that form a distinct pattern of communication and communion.

The final sequence of chapters looks at particular practical issues involved in worship situations (music, spatial settings, visual arts, vestments and objects), together with some general theological/social concerns (women in worship, ecumenical work). Editors Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker provide the final chapter, entitled 'Retrospect and Prospect', the writing and photography is so up-to-the-minute that there is a picture of Pope Benedict XVI at his inaugural mass. Their description touches on contrasts and comparisons, continuations and innovations, and they end with words that make sense: 'What will, by definition, prolong the history of Christian worship is the continuing gathering of people, in faith and in the name of Jesus, to encounter in praise and prayer, in scripture and sermon, in sacrament and song, the God understood to be the self-revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and thus communally to exercise the vocation and fulfill the destiny for which they as humans were created and redeemed.'

Each chapter includes its own bibliography, notes, highlights of primary texts and liturgies, and graphics (of which there are over 200 black-and-white images through the chapters). There are also over 30 full-colour plates in three collections interspersed with the text. There is a biblical references index, and an incredible 46-page general index in the back that is very helpful.

Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker are both Methodists (Wainwright a British Methodist, Westerfield Tucker a United Methodist), but both have worked and served in ecumenical capacities for a long time. The thirty-six additional contributors include women and men from every inhabited continent, and denominations and jurisdictions Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant.

This has become my regular bedside reading, and promises to be one of the more valuable and significant reference books on my shelf for some time to come.

The Oxford History of Christian Worship is 860 pages of wonderfully perceptive and accessible historical scholarship in the service of Christian theology. The book is sympathetic to every strand of Christian worship: there is nothing dry or patronizing here. The masterly Introduction by Geoffrey Wainwright is not only theological, it is positively evangelical: if we do not worship the true God we worship false ones.

The book starts with the apostolic tradition, the ancient oriental churches, and goes on to Orthodoxy. I was most impressed by Alexander Rentel's fifty pages on Eastern Orthodoxy, by André Haquin on changes in Catholic worship in the twentieth century, and by Karen Westfield Tucker's forty page chapter on North America. Other chapters deal with different ecclesiologies (Mennonite, Charismatic), territories (Africa, Asia) and themes (Music, the Spatial Setting, Women), and there are seven chapters on church and worship in the global south. The chapters lay out the theological logic of each form of worship: the content and structures of worship services are discussed, with some information laid out in boxes, and lots of illustrations.

Several chapters discuss the twentieth century, in which worship underwent rapid changes in every church. The Roman Catholic recovery of the idea that whole church is the people of God, communion ecclesiology (an unnoticed reformation?), meant that Vatican II was not simply the Catholic church `catching up' with change outside it; it has also been the impetus to liturgical revision in every other (Protestant) denomination. Revision of lectionaries, service books and hymn books shows an increasing Evangelical understanding of the role of the lectionary in cementing the unity of the Church, and thus a growing Protestant realisation of the catholicity of Church. There is an intelligent discussion of Pentecostal and charismatic worship and a tentative look forward, perhaps to a church led by the charismatic churchmanship of the global south. The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a compelling read, and I was gripped even by subjects that I thought I had no interest in. It is the best purchase I have made this year.

THE OXFORD HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP should be an essential part of the library of any serious student of Church history and liturgy. Beautifully written and illustrated, it is a comprehensive look at Christian worship and certainly serves well as an authoritative text for those committed to the study of the Church and its divergent denominations and practices over the centuries. It should be required reading for all seminary students, Christian educators, and lay persons interested in peeling away the layers of liturgical practice and focusing upon the real core of Christian worship. In addition, it is an excellent volume to reference in any ecumenical discussion.

Nice solid binding, great illustrations, 900+ pp., really an amazing work.

IDEOLOGY
All mainline Protestants (liberals and neo-orthodox, for lack of a better generalization), progressive Ro. Catholics, or Eastern Orthodox, plus one charismatic from Westmont. The Methodists are the most numerous, but the writers span the Xian family tree (Lutherans, Mennonites, etc.). The only ones left out are Evangelicals (with the exception of the Westmont author). A big group to leave out, but not surprising.

SCOPE: Global, historic (AD 30-present), ecumenical (see above), detailed (34 chapters, over 900 pp.)

Some random thoughts:
Chap. 1 Xian Worship: Scriptural BASIS AND THEO. Frame by Wainwright is exactly what you'd expect from anyone who has read his wonderful book Doxology (1980; systemtics written from a relentlessly LITURGICAL perspective. All theological concepts are related to worship). Wainwright does a very fine job of introducing a topic as large as worship. He does this by opening with a beautiful plea for Xian worship being founded on the particularity of the Biblical God and as opposed to all idols and so-called gods. This comes off, frankly, as a very Reformed section of the book. About a helpful as anything i have read by others with whom I share more theological opinions (Hughes O. Old, John Frame, etc).

For example, he pulls out of the book of Romans all these familiar passages, showing them to be shot through with liturgical language and cultic terms. I will never see Romans the same way again. Then moves on like it was nothing to a brilliant discussion of Imago Dei and how this means we were made for communion with God and then, of course, made for life in society.

BTW -- this wouldn't be a modern mainline book if, after brilliantly demonstrating Xian particularity and exclusive claims to God, he didn't turn around and undermine this with a short but unfortunate nod to universalism (through the benevolent lens of von Balthasar).

Chap. 2 -- Maxwell Johnson. He shows something we all want to fight against -- there was not ONE EARLY CHURCH way to do worship, but several. Some, no doubt, had direct Apostolic roots and others did not. We get ahold of a book like The Apostolic Tradition and we all feel safe -- we can at least hang our hats on it, being right from the pen of Hippolytus of Rome and early 3rd century. So THIS is how the Early Church did liturgy! Well, not really. Lately scholars seem to think its not by Hippolytus (it was anonymous after all), maybe not Roman, and maybe not even 3rd cent. (earliest copies we have are 5th cent.). I am not up on the latest here, but the general point is a muddy one -- there isn't one ideal liturgy of the Early chucrh out there to be recovered and replicated. Of course, we wouldn't want to anyway. There's a Holy Spirit and all. But we CAN find some common phrases, elements, themes, to shape and inform our current worship. This chapter is long-winded and a little too detailed, but great.

Chap. 13 on Reformed Tradition in NETHERLANDS was the most surprising to me. I expected alot better liturgy from this tradition. 1553 Micron liturgy has the most bizarre order of worship imaginable. Sermon comes early, announcements after it, then confession of sin, ends with intercession. Only highlight -- very last item before benediction is an exhortation for the poor.

In the exile Dutch church (French speaking) no member could refuse to partake in the Lord's Supper without good reason (very interesting).

But now things go way down hill. A nat'l synod produces a 1574 liturgy that was much simpler (Puritan) and had no confession of sin. This order remained the same, we are told, into the 21st century, except that teh confession of faith was replaced with Ten Commendments. Uggh! and the Lord's Supper was celebrated only 6 times a year.

This same 1574 nat'l synod also decreed no funeral liturgiess, just preaching, since the dead might be honored instea d of God. And before each celebration of the meal a censura morum (moral investigation) of members was held by a joint group of pastors, elders, deacons (well, do note at least they were three office, not two). Later synods like Middleburg (1581) did not allow Xmas celebation. Eventually it was allowed with soberness to prevent idleness. No explicit absolution or declaration of pardon was allowed becuase the preaching of the Gospel contains enough forgiveness!

In the 17th cent. the very few 'liturgical' elements -- creeds, ten commandments, etc. -- all took place sadly in a sort of pre-service. After them, THEN the pastor would enter the church say a prayer and go right into the sermon! The eucharist was supposed to be celebrated 6 times a year but in many cases only happened annually (p. 467). The Reformers would have died. People wore only black. Maundy Thrus and Good Fri were NOT observed in Dutch Reformed chucrhes, and Easter was explicitly to be a sober emphasis on Christ's DEATH!?

An 1817 synod gave complete liturgical freedom. Freedom from the mess cataloged above would be great, but this also meant freedom from doing any recognizable liturgy. Set forms of prayer, we are told, were viewed as spiritual weakness. A schism occured in 1834 over this stuff.

20th cent. saw some improvements. Kuyper wrote Our Liturgy in 1911 (Is it avaialble in English?). In 1973 several Protestant denominations (Lutherans, Mennonites, Reformed) came together to write a joint hymnal. (Good idea! How about PCA/OPC link up with AMiA, Missour Synod, EPC and some others to do the same? Each could still keep their separate ones, but congregations could elect to use teh ecumencial one insteda of the parachurch ones many use.) Liturgies are reproduced here. Supper finally is celebrated 8-10 times a year (though just 4 times in more orthodox congregations).

After that, chap. 14 on SCOTTISH Reformed makes the Scots look more liturgical and rich. The author here is Ducan Forrester, who was Dean of New College, Edinburgh.

Lots of good insights. Some tragic, some helpful and lovely. The irnonic spectacle -- mobs going way beyond Knox and the Reformers in rioting to destroy every imagined vestige of 'idolatrie" while the very same people jealously guarded all kinds of old practices the Reformers sought to end (saints' days fairs, certain funeral rituals, etc.). The strong influence of German Lutheran liturgies on Wishart and Geo. Buchanan is interesting.

Knox's 1564 liturgy calls for communion once a month (that's about 40 times too few a year, but better than Holland). Sadly it over-fences, of course. But communion is enveloped in wonderful prayers of 'thanksgiving".

Essay is concise and balanced.

Chap. 15 on KOREAN worship is another surprise. They hit two of the three big early missionaroes (Horace Allen and Underwood, but why not Samuel Austin Moffett?). Tell how Nevius' principles and pragmatic concerns (pragmatism ALWAYS messes us up in ways we don't anticipate at the time!) led to a 'temporary' low church, revivalist, simple liturgy, which sadly endured despite all efforts at liturgical renewal that began in the 1920s. Not til the 1980s did any of the liturgical impulse get any foothold at all, the authors claim. Only silver lining -- the non-liturgical, seeker-sensitive "open worship" spreading through much of Korean has been resisted by most 21st cent. Presbyterians, we are told. Small consoluation.

Chap. 16 on ANGLICANS. The author Bryan Spinks is Yale prof., with an interest in music. This is a long chapter, but (unlike chap. 2) needed to be.

Chap. 21 on PENTECOSTALS written by a Westmont prof differed, to me, from the others I read in tone and quality. It seems to be something of an apologetic.

Chap. 26 on Inculturation in AFRICA was wildly educational to me, prob. only because I know so little on this. (Shaw's hist of Xianity in Africa was good, but it does not talk much about liturgy). The author is a native African Nwaka Chris Egbulem who teaches in New Orleans. He's Catholic and makes great points about the need to have an authentically local liturgy that is still somehow Catholic and historic. The case study of the Congo (Zaire) is VERY interesting. P. 689 is where it comes to a head. Obviously, he's right that the Vatican needs to lighten up on the ban against palm wine and millet bread. Reminds me of the Vatican's decision that the kid in NJ who was allergic to wheat couldn't commune with a rice wafer instead.

But he does go too far I think toward syncretism. For example, he wants to incorporate the rich (PAGAN!) prayer traditions into the liturgy mass, etc.

Getting too long here. All pastors need to buy this book.

A geographically and ecumenically comprehensive work that concerns itself not only with the past and the present, but also with projections for liturgical developments of the future. Readers interested in the development of Catholic Liturgy in the Hispanic American mainland will find the article by Jaime Lara particularly useful.

This book goes beyond explaining various forms of Christian worship. As I read this book, I realized that every Christian should read it, if for no other reason, just to get a broader sense of how Christian worship has evolved and developed through the centuries. The book would help many to understand the beliefs of other Christians and the relationships between the many and varied Christian families that make up the Universal Church. The names of many of the Christian churches and groups covered in this book may be familiar to some people, but after reading this book, a reader might have a better understanding of the relationships between the different churches, how they came into being and also a little about what distinguishes them from one another. It is very informative reading for anyone who is interested in knowing more about the traditions of the various members of the Christian family.

Very well researched and clearly written. An essential reference book for anyone interested in the history of Christian liturgies, worship practices, and doctrines of worship.

This is a very exhaustive volume on how Christians worship. It traces the methodology of how various denominations approach their liturgy and their worship structure. As is often the case of Oxford, it finds premier scholars in the subjects it covers and they write with expertise. The reader benefits from these many contributors and can rest assured that the material presetned is well researched and well presented.

The book explores a variety of topics. Chapters include western Christendom, eastern orthodoxy, Luteranism in the German-speaking regions, the English church, and so forth. But it is more than simple chronology. It also has chapters on Women in worship, music, and pentacostal worship. The chapters do not necessarily build on each other, as they are more stand alone than sequential. But this book is thorough in its coverage. If one is able to get all the way through it, they will have a solid understanding of what exactly is inlcuded in worship services and what's been done in the past. It is not really a book on Christian history (Oxford has a separate book on this subject), but it is a history of how worship haschanged over the centuries.

This book may not be for everyone, but church scholars and seminary students should find it a very helpful resource to become familiar with how worship is done.

From its very beginning, the Church has always worshipped. Building on its Jewish roots and through its meditation on the mysteries of the Christian faith, the worship of the Church developed rich liturgical traditions in different locales that even through the variations of custom maintained a core similarity built upon the legacy of the Apostles. The Protestant Reformation gave impetus to removing perceived excesses (in the case of the magisterial Reformers) and complete overhauls (in the case of the radical Reformers) and this led to an even greater amount of variation to the basic pattern of worship to the point now where local churches in the same offer a bewildering menu of worship styles.

Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker have brought together contributions from various authors to outline the liturgical diversity of the Church in The Oxford History of Christian Worship. Beginning with the earliest days of the Church, the articles details the rich history of Christian worship over two millennia followed bv additional articles covering a specific facet of worship (i.e., the role of women, the use of art) rather than a particular tradition or period. Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern traditions are all covered and, umlike many more academic surveys of Christian worship, recent free church developments such as the growing acceptance of Christianity in Asia and Africa are included.

The quality of the articles is very high and they are generally self-contained and need not be read in order. Both the early articles on liturgical history and the later one bringing together much of the fruit of the scholarship of the liturgical movement are written in a form suitable for scholar and educated layman alike. As a reference source for understanding the diverse traditions of Christian worship, The Oxford History of Christian Worship is indispensible.