Twenty Centuries of Christian Worship (Library of Christian Worship: Volume 2)
Overview
Twenty Centuries of Christian Worship traces the history of the church from the New Testament period through the modern era detailing worship in the early church, the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Roman Catholic worship, post-Reformation worship, and worship renewal movements in the Twentieth Century. Various historic models of worship are represented including The Didache, Martin Luther's Formula Missae, and John Wesley's Sunday Service. Other features include overviews of different theologies of worship, issues relating to the future of worship, and challenges facing worship renewalists.
Top Highlights
“Monastic prayer can be more properly thought of as a service of prayer and meditation on Scripture than as liturgy. The primary reason is that liturgy implies the whole church of God gathered together to pray (including clergy), and the monastic movement in its beginnings was a lay movement.” (Page 6)
“If worship is the heart’s love for God, theology is the mind’s love for God; both are responses to God.” (Page 262)
“The liturgy of the Old Covenant has become fulfilled and completed in the liturgy of the New Covenant.” (Page 23)
“Morning and evening prayer (also known as matins and vespers, or evensong) were part of the prayer environment of early Christians. The charge to ‘pray without ceasing’ in the New Testament was observed in different ways among early Christians. First, and foremost, was the weekly celebration of the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day, Sunday. Second was the prayer of the ‘domestic church,’ the family gathered to pray at meals and at sunset and sunrise.” (Page 6)
“The primary hours of Daily Prayer are morning prayer and evening prayer. Morning prayer is a prayer of thanks and praise for the new day and for salvation in Jesus, symbolized by the rising sun. Evening prayer is the Christian way of closing the day, a reflection on the good of the day and reconciliation for the wrongs done.” (Page 6)
Reviews
7 ratings
Rick Osborn
2/20/2019
Ralph A. Abernethy III
9/7/2017
Maryellen J Lewis
12/8/2016
Glenn Crouch
5/5/2015
I found the second volume of greater value than the first. As before, this is a collection of small articles done in an encyclopaedic approach, which works quite well - though I do think this second volume has been better referenced than the first. I especially enjoyed looking into sample liturgies from all the various denominations - and learnt a great deal. However, this volume covers a great deal from Early Christian Worship through the History of Worship, as well as looking into the theology(ies) behind worship. The last two parts concentration on New Directions and Revivals and gave me much to think about. Well worth the read. Near the end was a section or two that looked in detail at the Psychology of Worship that was very useful and welcome. So there is a huge amount in this second volume, and time will be well spent going through it all :)James Whited
4/22/2015
John Vignol
7/12/2013
