Documents of Christian Worship

"The lack of a strong sacramental life does not seem to vitiate the vigor or intensity of a worship tradition. ... Jesus Christ alone remains the first and enduring sacrament, the only permanent encounter of God and humanity for all groups of Christian worshipers." James F. White Sacrosanctum Concilium: Liturgy, means worship, the congregational work of the people, and was the way in which all Christians have expressed their belief in public fellowship. It is a communal way, in which the worship of churches is similar in core, even if varies with time, space, and culture. During the first three centuries of Christianity, when all worship rites were still forming, the ceremonies commonly used throughout the Christian world were almost of Eastern origin. Since public worship was normalized between Alexandria and Constantinople, in the fourth century, most other churches followed their suit. Neglect & Revival of Liturgy: The late Dean of St. Paul's, was dining at a high table in Oxford, and was asked by his neighbor, Rev. Ratcliff, a distinguished liturgist, whether he was interested in liturgy. 'No,' said the Dean, neither do I collect postage stamps.' Dr. Inge's estimate of liturgical study was not far from a trivial branch of archaeology. "A good deal of water has passed under Folly Bridge since the days of the Gloomy Dean," was A. Couratin introduction to write a chapter on liturgy, in Vol. 2 of the Pelican Guide to Modern Theology, 1969. Since the publication of Dom Gregory Dix classic, 'The Shape of the Liturgy,' sixty years ago, and Vatican II liturgical reform in 1963, there have been an active though gradual progress towards restoration of worship as a central part in the Christian life. Many important studies were written since, as 'The Study of liturgy, 1972 by C. Jones et al., Handbook for Liturgical Studies, by Anscar Chupungco, and Orthodox liturgical books including, 'For the Life of the World, by A. Schmemmann. Participation in Worship: One of the most oft-quoted phrases of the Second Vatican Council is 'full, conscious, and active participation.' It seems all Christian faithful, not only Catholics have felt this challenge and have responded with efforts to bring about a more lively and participating worship experience--one much more contemplative. Most denominations have introduced more contemporary music, drama, visual arts, even dance, and other 'hands-on' worship elements. There remains a question, however: what did the Council, which echoed a universal need, really have in mind when inviting to a new way to participate in worship? Many if not most Christian denominations are struggling with what lies underneath this clarion call of the Council for full, conscious, and active participation. A liturgical commentator wrote, "It simply won't do to have people come to church and be bumps on a log; worship is definitely not a spectator sport! We are concerned with our young people who don't seem interested in establishe

The book is basically on about Christian Worship and the various elements of it. This book was used in a Master level class on the History of Christian Worship at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. James White is the Professor of Liturgy at the University of Notre Dame. He's the author of many books including Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transition.The book is really wonderful. It first begins with the teaching of Christian Worship (mostly by surveying the various families and tradition of Christian worship, major figures and developments in Christian worship, and the need for liturgical pedagogy, that is, the teaching of what the various elements are within liturgy). White surveys some of the forms of how the message of Christianity of Christianity is transmitted, for instance, that the Christian Year and the various elements within it can teach the Christian message (e.g., Time as Communication). Then he gives various analyses on architectures and how these can communicate things about God and the Christian message -- "Space as Communication". There are some great pictures (or rather, photographs and architectural diagrams) which visually show this. For instance, Gothic cathedrals draw one's attention upward, giving a sense of God's transcendance. Or Puritan meeting houses are plain and white (symbolizing God's holiness), drawing people attention that the church is really the People of God. And so on. There are many beautiful pictures of churches and White draws out elements that we normally see but don't think much about, for instance, the high pulpit. Then White moves on to Daily Public Prayer and the services of prayers (including sample prayers), the service of the Word (within the tradition of the church and how it developed especially in Protestantism), sacraments in general, Christian Initiation, the Eucharist, and Occasional Services.All in all, White mentions a number of crucial authors and critical teachers (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Eusebius, etc.) who made contributions and includes their writings as points of reference to indicate how the service of worship was changing/evolving. This was a really nice book to survey Christian worship and get a good understanding of not only the formal elements, but many of the artistic/visual/etc. elements that affect worship.