Worship in Spirit and Truth: A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship

Really nice condition and really an interesting read. I really enjoyed getting this book and it has been quite an aid in my studies on worship of all generas.

Worship in Spirit and Truth is an interesting study on the whole concept of worship from a Reformed perspective. For me much of this book was both completely new and very old hat. What was most eye-opening in Worship in Sprit and Truth was the concept of "the regulative principle." That we can derive principles for ordering our services straight from scripture to make them the most God-honoring they can be seems like common sense. However, the strict and narrow ways that many Presbyterians have used this principle seemed too much for me to comprehend. The bible nowhere makes claims like our only being able to sing Psalms, and my experience and study of the bible have directed me to use of all kinds of means to get the message of God's love across in church and other venues. The fact that Frame had to spell that out is baffling to me. Frame's idea that teaching the word can be done in a myriad of ways, including use of instruments, drama, singing of "uninspired" hymns and songs, and conventional preaching, also seems fairly plain to me, but evidently controversial in some circles. I spent half my time reading this book saying, "Duh!" and the other half challenged to rethink how I participate in and lead services at my church. All in all, it was a useful book that I plan to use with those I minister to.

This is a book whose very subject stirs up a great deal of controversy within the Presbyterian Church in America. The assumption is made early on that we are to follow the Regulative Principle of worship; that we are to worship only in those manners that are specifically taught in Scripture. This still leaves considerable latitude of views and this book has contributed to no small controversy within the Reformed Churches where strong opinions have entrenched themselves on how we are to utilize the Regulative Principle in directing out worship. The first seven chapters take us on a journey through the foundational principles of worship, covering the history of worship in both Testaments as well as dealing with basic questions of arrangement and tone. This is followed by five chapters in which these principles are applied to the specific areas of the Word, the sacraments, congregational responses, music and even dancing. The final chapter shifts more to a personal testimony of how the author has sought to apply these principles within his own church setting. Each chapter is followed by a series of discussion questions that would make this book highly useful in teaching a small group or Sunday School class. Considerable weight is made via 1 Corinthians 14 that worship is to be made intelligible by placing it into the cultural language of the day. This includes, not only the sermons that are preached, but the music that is used for worship. One valid point that was made which is usually overlooked by those discussing this subject is that in worship, we should not be so preoccupied with God that we ignore one another (Page 8). Worship is seen to be, not only for God's benefit, but also for our benefit. The fact that three chapters are devoted to music demonstrates the author's own preoccupation with this particular subject. One particularly enlightening point was made with regard to the cultural differences between music in the Old Testament era versus our modern perceptions: In our time, we tend to see music mainly as entertainment, or perhaps "art for art's sake." Matters of historical importance, however, like congressional bills and international treaties, are always written in prose. To put them into poetry or music would seem to trivialize them. It would, indeed, be ludicrous for a president of the United States to sing a new treaty agreement. But the use of song for this purpose would not have seemed odd in the ancient world. Then, the most important things were commonly expressed in poetry and music (Page 113). The point is made that music involves making the truths of God vivid and memorable.

A few preliminaries: I know the author, he was my favorite prof at Westminister West, i think he is a significant and important theologian in the conservative reformed church and i appreciate both his wisdom and his writings. We were members of the church spoken about in the book. The book is a re-read for me, being the primary reading for a PCA Sunday School class on Worship, several more reviews of books for this class ought to follow, for i have about 10 on the table for this class. I am not unaware of the controversy over worship in the conservative reformed churches in the US, i know the book caused a big stir on the right, and J.Frame faced a lot of criticism over the way he handled the issues in the book. It is written to be a Sunday School class on Worship in the Church. It is secondarily an entry into these worship wars fought primarily over music with the exclusive psalmody guys to the far right, traditional hymn singers just to the left of them against anyone who dares try to make worship more spontaneous, more contemporary or forbid introduce dancing in the aisles or drama into the morning worship service. I like to think of J.Frame as the overhead projector and Praise song defender, but his position is far more nuanced and justified then this, however i would not be surprised if that is what most people walk away from the book believing. He includes thinking questions to address as a group and short footnotes with each chapter. The book is written to that general reader, interested party with just barely a high school education. There are not theological terms to look up, no sophisticated reasoning that requires a table or flowchart to follow, but rather a gentle introduction trying to lead people through the maze of the discussion without setting off either their internal explosives nor the mines in the worship wars. For that alone JFrame ought to be commended, it is a good introduction, he touches on all the major issues, and even adds a few important ideas to use to grasp what are the real issues. What does God require of us in our worship of Him? How to answer the question? on pg xiv he says there are 3 types of literature on the subject of worship: historical, ideological, practical. His contribution will be to look at Scripture and interpret tradition through it, looking mostly at the issues in modern conservative Presbyterianism. He introduces the idea that meaningful worship is to do as God commands in language that expresses our worship to God and our edification of each other. His major point throughout the book will be that God leaves us a lot of flexibility on the issues and that theological traditionalists will try to minimize both freedom and flexibility. Chapter 1 is "Some Basic Principles" and it starts with "What is Worship?" Our first concern is to please God. He introduces his useful triad of: authority control and presence. Worship is to be: God centered, Christ centered and Gospel centered. It is vertical,

If you are familiar with John Frame, you know that he is one of the best Christian theological writers around. With degrees from Princeton and Yale and thirty years of teaching at the seminary and graduate level (Westminister Sem. and Reformed Sem.), he is a very sharp guy and a deep thinker. But his talent comes in the way he is able to synthesize difficult concepts and place them in accessible and easily understood language. This is a good book. He is coming from a Reformed perspective, with a broad commitment to the regulative principle of worship. But he has an openness which enables him to see beyond the social accidents of his tradition and go back to Scripture for correction and guidance. He is able to sort out what is inconsistent in his tradition with the main impulses that have driven it. He also is good at sorting out the modern equivalents to ancient Biblical directives. This book discusses the proper elemenst of worship, various styles, and content. It is always fresh, accessible, challenging, and insightful, even when you disagree with the author. I highly recommend it. If you are looking for other approaches somewhat at varience with Frame, you might try: Hughes O. Old (more liturgically rich; extremely good), or Robert Rayburn (a generation older and sometimes wiser). I also like Jeff Meyers, The Lord's Service (on covenant renewal).