Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for This Urgent Time (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I am worried about the Church..." (more)
Key Phrases: worship participants, worship wars, technological milieu, New York, Grand Rapids, Holy Spirit (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Working to bridge opposing sides in the various "worship wars", Marva Dawn here writes to help local parishes and denominations think more profoundly about both worship and culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802841023
• ISBN-13: 978-0802841025
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #221,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

As someone who tends to resist the "popular-culturalization" of life, I was drawn to this book. Dawn points out the error of approaching church planning by "How can we fill the pews the fastest?" She reminds us that pop culture and its associated cults of celebrity, wealth, and popularity are counter to the "otherness" of Christianity. Christians should be in the world but not of it. She couches her arguements in the larger terms of the changes that have taken place in American culture - changes she sees as distressing - that "ordinary people" don't sing or play instruments any more, that there is increased consumerism, that people are increasingly taking part in amusements that are passive and that separate them from other humans. But Dawn also challenges "traditionalists" not to fossilize in their worship styles and points out that some change may be necessary.

I agreed with much of what Dawn had to say; a person who is into "praise songs" and the church as mall probably wouldn't agree with her. She is pretty harsh on the "marketing-driven" churches, but I do think much of that harshness is deserved, considering what could happen to Christianity if it becomes just another "lifestyle choice."

73 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best arguments for solid worship..., November 9, 2001

By	David Bennett "www.ancient-future.net" (Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marva Dawn asks how can the Church reach out, without losing its powerful message? Having attended many churches, I believe the Christian message is often "dumbed down" to fill pews. Dawn confronts our long-held views of worship. Worship, she says, is about God, not us. Christ, not entertainment value, is its meaning. Dawn reinforced my current beliefs, though I wish I had read her book earlier. I attended a "contemporary" church (she points out that it is more like an 80's church; if truly "contemporary" it would use trendier music), and found little depth. As I was discovering the riches of Christian tradition, my old church was proudly ignoring the past. Ultimately, she says we practice idolatry when we mimic empty secular culture, instead of transcending it.

Contrary to popular notions, "contemporary" churches don't appeal to all young persons. Dawn tells about a college student who left a "contemporary" service saying his intelligence was insulted. Many tire of being entertained, especially when their lives become rough and upbeat songs don't cut it, and the power-point presentations become indistinguishable from any other self-help seminar. Worship should subvert culture. Since the true gospel is shocking, it is not something that is able to be mass-marketed.

Dawn is not an old-timer. She believes that some traditionalists have let the liturgy become stale. The idolatry of "doing things as they always have been done" is no better than embracing secular society. She is not a future-fearing hidebound; she wants us to engage Christianity's rich history, but not just follow it blindly. She believes that liturgy, "the work of the people," should indeed be the people's work, not just the pastor's. The meaning of the liturgy should be taught so we can understand its fullness: confession, thanks, prayer, etc. Memorized forms, e.g. creeds and prayers, are important, because they create a solid believing community, rather than a fragmented loose association.

Yes, some of her arguments are forced, but I do hope her ideas will challenge us to worship God in Word and Sacrament (instead of being entertained), and build community (instead of just numbers). I want to share a few excerpts. Dawn discusses Youth Sunday at her Church. Everyone expected the youth to design a contemporary service. However, the youth did a traditional service, and chose old, deep hymns! I too have found that most youth want something deep, but are usually forced to endure hype-heavy study materials (which to the teen are patronizing). I was a teen 4 years ago, and the belief that teens only want contemporary is a myth. Another point Dawn makes is that worship services rarely convert anyone (friends do this). Conversion services are based on a false premise. All in all, she wants us to abandon both stagnant traditionalism and the business-church, and worship God as a tight-knit community with character, grounded in our living tradition.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Prophetic Challenge the Church Must Heed, February 27, 2003

By	Michael Huang (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marva J. Dawn, a Lutheran theologian at Regent College in Vancouver, throws in her views on the current "worship wars" being waged in churches across America. Taking a firmly traditional stance, though not in an unconditional and close-minded way, she details how churches have become captive to today's therapeutic, TV-addicted, and narcissistic culture. Churches have unthinkingly adopted the standards of the secular culture by singing songs that have more to do with our feelings than God, preaching sermons that are motivational speeches rather than exegeses of the Word, and encouraging church atmospheres which pretend to intimacy but replicate the alienation of our age. Dawn, citing figures as diverse as social critics Neil Postman and Jacques Ellul to theologians Walter Brueggeman and David Wells, shows how American Christianity got that way, and details some positive corrective steps. Worship is about God, and worship should form the character of the Christian, she insists, and anything less than that is unworthy of the Lord.

The book's clarion denunciation of the easygoing, narcissitic "gospel" is a real eye-opener and a prophetic challenge to the contemporary church. Though somewhat repetitive, her points are made clearly and with good support from both Scripture and theological tradition. The passion in her critique stems from what's at stake, which is the very life and death of God's people today. Her case for the traditional liturgy is particularly compelling in how she describes its effect on children and newcomers to the church. Having a set, repeated, and Scripture-rich liturgy following the church calendar will do much more to shape the worshiper's character than most of today's informal services. Dawn is also a classically trained musician and choir director, and it shows in her preference for older church music and especially in the chart presenting the difference between "high" and "pop" culture productions; it is such sections that have led some to accuse her of elitism. The criticism is unwarranted, in my judgment. The issue is not aesthetic taste, but whether the content of both the lyrics and the music are focused on God and will last over time. It's a mistake to think that people will be turned off by substance and depth, and prefer what they hear and see in the outside culture; thoughtful people come to church looking for something different. The church imitates the outside culture at its own peril--the final warning in her book, about the church being its own worst enemy, is a striking warning to churches who think otherwise. They may be, in fact, be captive to "principalities and powers" that guide our broken ways of life, and may be committing slow spiritual suicide in the end. Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down needs to be read by everyone, especially church and worship leaders, concerned with the way they are evangelizing their neighbors. From the Old Testament we learn that the Holy God cares a great deal about the structure and content of our worship, and if the situation is as bad as Dawn thinks it is, we dare not let that state continue for long. Souls are at stake.