The Oxford History of Christian Worship

by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

Book Overview

The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a comprehensive and authoritative history of the origins and development of Christian worship to the present day. Backed by an international roster of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195138864
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 960 Pages
• Weight: 4.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.2" x 2.1" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

The unity of Christian worship and witness

The Oxford History of Christian Worship is 860 pages of wonderfully perceptive and accessible historical scholarship in the service of Christian theology. The book is sympathetic to every strand of Christian worship: there is nothing dry or patronizing here. The masterly Introduction by Geoffrey Wainwright is not only theological, it is positively evangelical: if we do not worship the true God we worship false ones. The book starts with the apostolic tradition, the ancient oriental churches, and goes on to Orthodoxy. I was most impressed by Alexander Rentel's fifty pages on Eastern Orthodoxy, by André Haquin on changes in Catholic worship in the twentieth century, and by Karen Westfield Tucker's forty page chapter on North America. Other chapters deal with different ecclesiologies (Mennonite, Charismatic), territories (Africa, Asia) and themes (Music, the Spatial Setting, Women), and there are seven chapters on church and worship in the global south. The chapters lay out the theological logic of each form of worship: the content and structures of worship services are discussed, with some information laid out in boxes, and lots of illustrations. Several chapters discuss the twentieth century, in which worship underwent rapid changes in every church. The Roman Catholic recovery of the idea that whole church is the people of God, communion ecclesiology (an unnoticed reformation?), meant that Vatican II was not simply the Catholic church `catching up' with change outside it; it has also been the impetus to liturgical revision in every other (Protestant) denomination. Revision of lectionaries, service books and hymn books shows an increasing Evangelical understanding of the role of the lectionary in cementing the unity of the Church, and thus a growing Protestant realisation of the catholicity of Church. There is an intelligent discussion of Pentecostal and charismatic worship and a tentative look forward, perhaps to a church led by the charismatic churchmanship of the global south. The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a compelling read, and I was gripped even by subjects that I thought I had no interest in. It is the best purchase I have made this year.

Indespensible, if imperfect

Nice solid binding, great illustrations, 900+ pp., really an amazing work. IDEOLOGY All mainline Protestants (liberals and neo-orthodox, for lack of a better generalization), progressive Ro. Catholics, or Eastern Orthodox, plus one charismatic from Westmont. The Methodists are the most numerous, but the writers span the Xian family tree (Lutherans, Mennonites, etc.). The only ones left out are Evangelicals (with the exception of the Westmont author). A big group to leave out, but not surprising. SCOPE: Global, historic (AD 30-present), ecumenical (see above), detailed (34 chapters, over 900 pp.) Some random thoughts: Chap. 1 Xian Worship: Scriptural BASIS AND THEO. Frame by Wainwright is exactly what you'd expect from anyone who has read his wonderful book Doxology (1980; systemtics written from a relentlessly LITURGICAL perspective. All theological concepts are related to worship). Wainwright does a very fine job of introducing a topic as large as worship. He does this by opening with a beautiful plea for Xian worship being founded on the particularity of the Biblical God and as opposed to all idols and so-called gods. This comes off, frankly, as a very Reformed section of the book. About a helpful as anything i have read by others with whom I share more theological opinions (Hughes O. Old, John Frame, etc). For example, he pulls out of the book of Romans all these familiar passages, showing them to be shot through with liturgical language and cultic terms. I will never see Romans the same way again. Then moves on like it was nothing to a brilliant discussion of Imago Dei and how this means we were made for communion with God and then, of course, made for life in society. BTW -- this wouldn't be a modern mainline book if, after brilliantly demonstrating Xian particularity and exclusive claims to God, he didn't turn around and undermine this with a short but unfortunate nod to universalism (through the benevolent lens of von Balthasar). Chap. 2 -- Maxwell Johnson. He shows something we all want to fight against -- there was not ONE EARLY CHURCH way to do worship, but several. Some, no doubt, had direct Apostolic roots and others did not. We get ahold of a book like The Apostolic Tradition and we all feel safe -- we can at least hang our hats on it, being right from the pen of Hippolytus of Rome and early 3rd century. So THIS is how the Early Church did liturgy! Well, not really. Lately scholars seem to think its not by Hippolytus (it was anonymous after all), maybe not Roman, and maybe not even 3rd cent. (earliest copies we have are 5th cent.). I am not up on the latest here, but the general point is a muddy one -- there isn't one ideal liturgy of the Early chucrh out there to be recovered and replicated. Of course, we wouldn't want to anyway. There's a Holy Spirit and all. But we CAN find some common phrases, elements, themes, to shape and inform our current worship. This chapter is long-winded and a little

The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a "Must Have"

THE OXFORD HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP should be an essential part of the library of any serious student of Church history and liturgy. Beautifully written and illustrated, it is a comprehensive look at Christian worship and certainly serves well as an authoritative text for those committed to the study of the Church and its divergent denominations and practices over the centuries. It should be required reading for all seminary students, Christian educators, and lay persons interested in peeling away the layers of liturgical practice and focusing upon the real core of Christian worship. In addition, it is an excellent volume to reference in any ecumenical discussion.

The Oxford History of Christian Worship

A geographically and ecumenically comprehensive work that concerns itself not only with the past and the present, but also with projections for liturgical developments of the future. Readers interested in the development of Catholic Liturgy in the Hispanic American mainland will find the article by Jaime Lara particularly useful.

Invaluable reference material

When I first heard this text was in preparation, I couldn't wait for its release. I have studied theology, church history, and liturgy, and have made some attempts to piece the three together in various ways, but this book in many ways represents a convergence of my interests in a singularly interesting way. As is often the case with such texts from Oxford, it is comprehensive, authoritative, well illustrated, well documented, and well constructed. According to the preface, 'Christian worship has a history of two thousand years and, by now, a global reach. This book traces its winding course and describes its varied manifestations in ways suited to the general reader as well as to historians, theologians, and scholars of religion.' The book is also useful as reference for students, church-goers and liturgists who wish to learn more about the history and development not only of the broader sweep of Christian practice, but also their own particular traditions or denominations. There are overlapping ideas of organisation of the text. The primary principle is chronological arrangement, breaking from there into geographical and confessional/denominational identity. Many of the thirty-four chapters are devoted to specific practices of traditions in a time or place (for example, the chapter on 'Anglicans and Dissenters' by Bryan D. Spinks traces Anglican worship from the early 1500s to the present in England), whereas some chapters are devoted to more general considerations ('Women in Worship' by Teresa Berger or 'Liturgical Music' by William T. Flynn). The first chapter, by editor Geoffrey Wainwright, sets the tone for this broad study of Christian worship. He looks at issues in worship and liturgy from scriptural and theological bases - there is a highlighted essay entitle 'Liturgy and/as Language' which describes the complex system of verbal and non-verbal symbols and signs that form a distinct pattern of communication and communion. The final sequence of chapters looks at particular practical issues involved in worship situations (music, spatial settings, visual arts, vestments and objects), together with some general theological/social concerns (women in worship, ecumenical work). Editors Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker provide the final chapter, entitled 'Retrospect and Prospect', the writing and photography is so up-to-the-minute that there is a picture of Pope Benedict XVI at his inaugural mass. Their description touches on contrasts and comparisons, continuations and innovations, and they end with words that make sense: 'What will, by definition, prolong the history of Christian worship is the continuing gathering of people, in faith and in the name of Jesus, to encounter in praise and prayer, in scripture and sermon, in sacrament and song, the God understood to be the self-revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and thus communally to exercise the vocation and fulfill the destiny for which they as humans