Customer Reviews

Recalling the Hope of Glory

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Prior to reading, I was familiar with Allen Ross (Holiness to the Lord), but this was the first Ross title I've read. Overall, I think it's a masterful study. I was skeptical on whether it would really be a book for all Christians, "regardless of tradition." Really, there are very few theological biases that enter the book. Ross's central concern is to understand the development of worship in the Bible. He admits that all denominations do things well, and his purpose is not to make one change denominations, etc. I truly think all Christians with appreciate this book, and glean great insights. Ross, himself, is somewhat difficult to pen down. He's Episcopal, but in the past has been Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian. He approaches many issues from a Reformed point of view, but I think Arminian and Catholic readers would get a lot out of this book.

Many local churches have been torn apart by what has called the "worship wars". Battles between "oldtimers" with their set way of doing things as Baptists (or Methodists or Presbyterians or ...) have always done them against the "young turks" with their marketing surveys and praise choruses over the format of worship with each side determined to have its way. Often the solution is to have different style services that imposes a congregational split along generational and socio-economic lines. Unfortunately, there seems to have been an assumption that the Holy Scriptures have little to say on the issue and it is merely one of style and not substance.

Allen P. Ross, a professor at Beeson Divinity School, goes a long way in demonstrating the fallacies of this line of thinking in his important survey of Biblical worship Recalling the Hope of Glory. Working his way from Genesis to Revelation, Ross sheds light on just how much the Holy Scriptures tell us about worshipping the Lord God. Dividing the book into ten parts, each dealing with a phase of development, Ross outlines how God's plan for worship was progressively revealed just as His plan for our salvation was revealed. From the creation to the last trump, we are being led to our true end in the communion with the living God. It is absurd to think that there has not been revealed some level of understanding that is to assist us in moving us toward that final destination.

Ross begins by discussing the purpose of worship. We cannot understand the purpose of worship, the author contnends, until we see its link with the nature and atributes of God. The knowledge we have of God from the revelation of Him in Holy Scripture (i.e., God is holy, God is omnipresent, God is righteous, etc.) all play a role in our understanding the glory of God. Our response to being confronted with the glory of God is to be fear, adoration, confession, commitment, and finally the participation in ritual acts and religious observances that reflect upon God's glory. The observances of God's people have always centered upon sacrifice, proclamation, praise, prayer, and covenant renewal. Each of the ritual acts can be seen from an intellectual, aesthetic, corporate, and moral sense and each of these views satisfies a need of the human spirit. True worship can thus be seen as the celebration of being in a covenant fellowship with the triune God by means of praise, adoration, commitment, and ritual as we have faith that God's covenant promises will be fulfilled.

Ross then examines how the memory of paradise impacts worship. The construction of the Temple with its different levels of access to God symbolically reconstructs the world before the fall while emphasizing that access to God is no longer direct but requires a mediator. The effect both looks back to paradise but also looks forward to reconcilliation with God through the one true mediator Jesus Christ.

Pointing out how, at the time of Abraham, worship since the time of Noah had deteriorated into fertility cults governed by elite priests, Ross shows how God called Abraham and his descendents back to a true worship of Him. An important part of the worship was a sacrifice accompanied by a proclimation of faith in God at the altar. This proclimation was not only through words but also in ritual acts that demonstrated faith in the promises of God throughout the believer's life.

Ross then turns in successive sections on the details of how sacrifice and praise were integrated into the worship of Israel. The combination of prayer and ritual are not in opposition as commonly believed by many but are complementary in true worship. The author follows the development of Jewish worship from Sinai to the Temple and how the two formed a cohesive plan for the Jewish liturgical celebration.

Even with the establishment of worship ordained by God, the fallen nature of man still led yet again to corruption. The author covers how, on different occasions, Israel fell into pagan idolatry. Even when not turning to pagan beliefs, there was also the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be holy but bore bad fruits as injustice and immorality reigned. In such times, God chose prophets among His people to rebuke them and announce both punishment and eventual redemption.

Then turning to the New Testament, Ross shows how Jesus continues the prophetic call to Israel to turn from the hypocrisy of its religious leaders but also now institutes the New Covenant worship. New Testament worship is worship of Christ that is done in Christ as the believers are identified with as His Body. Worship was transformed by Jesus at the Last Supper where He identified His body with the bread of affliction and identified His blood as to be poured out as He pointed to His coming sacrifice on the cross. The institution of the Holy Communion serves is not a mere memorial in the modern Western sense but serves to keep alive the New Covenant promises for the believer.

The author then points out how the New Testament Church would build upon the existing Jewish liturgical tradition with this new ritual. Jewish concepts were reinterpreted through the New Covenant with Christ. All aspects of worship became Christocentric with both Word and Sacrament an indispensible focus of the liturgy.

Ross goes into much detail on the structure of the early Church liturgy, its reliance upon Jewish precedent, and its subsequent development to reflect the new Christian covenant. Many Evangelicals might be surprised and perhaps uneasy by the "Catholic" appearance of early Christian worship. It should be pointed out, however, that all Christian worship until recent centuries followed this basic form. The worship of Israel was always liturgical as was the early Church and all churches that can trace its history from before the Reformation. Among the Churches of the Reformation, the Lutherans, Anglicans, and many Reformed also retained the basic structure of the historic Christian liturgy.

One element that has until recently been downplayed is the eschatological ends of worship. As we come together to thank God and praise Him we should also be reminded of His faithfulness not only in our past and present but also in the future as His plan will be fulfilled. Ross shows how the views of Scripture about the end of days are brought into the liturgy and how elements of true worship point to the coming eschaton. Just as the liturgy and the structure of true woship has always pointed back to paradise, so it also gives us a glimpse of the coming day when we will experience the full presence of God in His glory.

Ross finishes with a list of principles for more glorious worship. These serve to transcend the "worship wars" that too often center on passing styles that are peculiar too a particular generation and places the focus squarely on Christ and how we may proclaim His glory. The implementation of these principles would call for a change among worshippers of the "megachurch" or "emerging church" movements but also among many Evangelicals whose liturgical outlook was formed by earlier "revival" movements that sought emotional experiences at the expense of losing a sense of God's transcendent glory.

Rarely has a book dealt so frankly and honestly with the issue of liturgy and its implications for Evangelical Protestantism. Allen P. Ross has given us a rich and powerful evaluation of the essential elements of true woship that is deeply rooted in the Holy Scriptures and communicates how the true worship of God has developed in response to the progressively revealed state of God's Word. Recalling the Hope of Glory is a challenging work that should be read by anyone concerned with the worship of the God of Glory.

For several years, something has been missing in my life--this book has shown me exactly what that is. Genuine, heart-felt worship. The book is well written. It opens up the entire scripture (along with early church history) and leads the reader right to the feet of Jesus--and thats where I found I needed to be. For the most part, it is instructional, but has many moments which are magnifiicent and which stirred in me that "knowing" that I already know but have forgotten or let grow dim. My thanks to the author for helping me to be reminded.

...This is the one you should buy.

I have to admit that I was excited when I saw that Allen P. Ross' book on worship was going to be a text for this class. Having worked through his Hebrew grammar and his commentary on Leviticus, I was thoroughly interested as to what a Biblical scholar had to say about Biblical worship, since almost every "worship" book I've ever been punished with reading was written by people who weren't "theologians" or "exegetes" by any stretch of the word. Having read many modern `worship' books (like "The Unquenchable Worshiper" by Matt Redman...*shiver*), I have been generally turned off the whole genre due to the sheer volume of horrible theology and selective `biblical' defense for the personal convictions of many authors. Anytime a person recommends me a worship book that `changed my life', I usually roll my eyes and expect the worst. Sadly, I usually get the worst.

Ross, on the other hand, takes a thoroughly biblical look at worship. Starting with Genesis and ending in Revelation (and missing little in between), he spends considerable time simply working through the scriptures. His strength as an exegete and biblical scholar come out in his treatment of many texts, making Recalling the Hope of Glory bordering on a commentary in several places. Where other worship books often have me skimming several hundred pages for a few morsels of warm gristle, Ross had me reading several sections several times in an effort to consume the steak he'd presented me.

Much of what Ross wrote about worship wasn't shocking, but it was very comprehensive with a few especially good observations thrown in. Something that was very interesting was his extensive writing on both the nature and scope of tithing in the Old Testament; the common idea of a 10% tithe is only part of the picture. As Ross worked through the relevant texts and illustrated that many Israelites were supposed to give 30% or more to the Lord, he was also careful to not make direct modern parallelisms, explaining that their tithe was part of a national social structure (which would be more parallel with modern taxation). His emphasis that everything belongs to the Lord was placed into a new context in the light of his biblical exploration. I don't think I've ever read a worship book that had a section on "biblical tithing". This book had depth in places where other books didn't even have places.

Also, he made a strong argument for the importance of the centrality of communion as the central act of worship in the New Testament. He upheld the priority of ministry of the word in the worship service, saying that "Worship begins with the response to divine revelation. But if little time or attention is given to the revealed Word of God, read, proclaimed, or taught, then to what do people respond?" and interestingly suggesting that "If the church is truly interested in recapturing the spirit and nature of the prophetic and apostolic ministry of the Word in worship, then there will have to be a greater emphasis placed on reading, teaching, and preaching the Word of God, but it has to be with clarity, accuracy, power, and authority" (429). If I didn't know better, I would have thought that Ross was making a veiled jab at many of the revivalist prescriptions found in modern worship that sound like paraphrases of Isaiah 58. In my books, that's a jab that needs to be turned into a flurry to the solar plexus.

Surprisingly, given the popular concept of music in this modern age, Ross significantly downplayed the role of music in the worship service, actually discussing it directly in only a tiny fraction of the 512 pages (and completely disregarding questions of biblically prescribed style that consume many books), addresses the concept of dance in 1 paragraph (page 163) and to my knowledge completely ignored the issue of drama (though I'm also sick of sinfully horrible drama in church...). I imagine that many people in modern worship circles would have several questions about these `important' issues, and I did wonder why Ross seemingly ignored obvious questions most readers would raise about `worship', if even to simply be corrective or explain why he's ignoring the issue(s). The Bible does have clarifications for these issues (albeit small), and if those clarifications were given, I would have had a hard time finding any issues of fault with the book.

Other than ignoring a few obvious questions (that really become side issues when the theology of worship is properly understood...which may be why he ignored the questions), this book was a drink of cool water in a field where most literature leaves me parched.

Wow. Just Wow. A study of Christian worship, highlighted form Genesis to Revelation in one volume. An actual biblical study of worship, I can't recommend this highly enough. Allen P. Ross is a blessed scholar and has done the Church a great service with this. Unfortunately, it may be over the head of many worship leaders because there's no pictures.

This book is for those who want to be stretched into every aspect of how God wants us to be worshiping. A+ for Mr. Ross.

This book is an excellenct walk through Biblical worship, gathering lingering principles of worship as to what God demands from His worshippers. If you are a shallow worshipper who only likes to dance and jump around because it makes you "feel" good with no real understanding of God, then this book will be a little too deep for you. But, if you want to get a good foundation of what Biblical worship really looks like, give this book a try.

This book was recommended to me by Dr. Grant Thornton of Trinity International University, to accompany a class he taught on Worship. By its cover and title, the book looked like something only a Pastor or Theologian would read. The author has a unique ability to speak to those of us less educated. I found the book to be well written with plenty of footnotes on the reading page, and broken down into very readable chapters. He walked me through the topic of worship from creation to Revelation. Personally I was able to understand the importance of worshiping in community and communion. I found Allen Ross was able to correlate many parts of the Old Testament to paint a picture of worship from the Garden to Sinai. Also interesting was the ability of the author to correlate New Testament scripture to paint a picture of worship during the time of Christ. As a result of reading this book, I find myself better prepared for worship with my mind more aware of the Holy Spirit during worship.

This work covers all aspects of biblical worship. I especially found the in-depth study of Old Testament worship, the temple, the sanctuary, and all of the symbolism of the old covenant to be very interesting and informative. It was a pleasure to read.

I was fascinated to read this book. Dr. Ross accurately draws upon the Bible to describe authentic, God-instructed, meaningful worship is supposed to look, sound, smell and fell like. His understanding restores the reverential approach to God and the deliberateness of human worship of the divine. Taken as a whole work, Dr. Ross -- without ever mentioning it (perhaps he has no experience of it) is describing the 1st century-Jewish-based Christian worship and hymns (all must be drawn from scripture) that is still practiced by Orthodox Christians. Orthodox Christians know where in Old and New Testament scripture their practice of faithful worship of God is founded, and Dr. Ross makes his case from the same elements. A great read.