Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics| Worship By The Book |
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D.A. Carson, Editor In the early 21st century, the American church has little concept of what it means to engage in corporate worship. For the most part, our leadership has been indoctrinated to believe two corollary distortions: 1) that the only “New Testament” model for worship is 1 Corinthians 14:26, and is understood as endorsing an allegedly holy “free for all” as the model for participating in the ecclesial gatherings; and 2) that the historical liturgies of the Church have no “New Testament” basis and are, in fact, antithetical to the spirit of New Testament worship. It’s evident that the editor and contributors thankfully do not embrace these twin distortions, because Worship by the Book represents the vindication of worship, historically and theologically, by some of evangelicalism’s key practitioners on the topic. Unlike many similar works where two or more scholars come together to debate some point of doctrine and advocate for their particular teaching, this work seems, at best, to demonstrate differences in degree between the contributors, but not significant disagreement. Had the editor wanted to exemplify genuine differences, other voices could have been heard. It would be easy enough to gather advocates for a “Simple Church” for whom the liturgy and the architecture of most church buildings represent supposedly “Pagan Christianity.” They only repeat the objections of earlier generations of groups, like the Plymouth Brethren, whose dispensational presuppositions drove a wedge between the worship of the Old and New Testament Scriptures. To get a real debate going, the editor could have presented the Plymouth Brethren view and then juxtaposed an essay by Scott Hahn. Hahn is the convert to Romanism who wrote The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. Though Hahn’s work is a popular one, he thankfully recognizes the origins of the historic liturgy in their proper source – the Temple Liturgy seen as fulfilled in Jesus Christ and depicted … in the Book of Revelation no less! Hahn’s thesis is not original or even essentially Roman Catholic. It dates back to the days of the early Church and has been recognized by Anglicans and others. That view alone – not to be confused with Vatican approved extra-biblical prayers to angels and saints (which Hahn endorses though) – demonstrates a spiritual continuity of worship from the Torah to the New Covenant which we would expect, but which the “free for all model” fails to articulate. ...a liturgical “knock down drag out” between the ritually laid-back and the ceremonially certain. Lest the reviewer seem too harsh in speaking of “free for all worship”, it pays to note that 1 Corinthians 14:26 may be read in two ways – one as a prescription for worship as the “Simple Church” folk take it OR as a description of the problem at Corinth as it existed. If Revelation is indeed more about worship in light of the victory of Jesus Christ than producing an end-times chart, it becomes obvious that 1 Corinthians 14:26 as “liturgical last word” is, by comparison, lacking in depth and Christ centered focus. What we do have in Worship by the Book is not as exciting as a liturgical “knock down drag out” between the ritually laid-back and the ceremonially certain. One does find there, however, a solid manual with a bias for practical implementation for those pastors seeking to faithfully lead their congregations before the throne of grace each Lord’s Day. The thoughtful introductory essay by Carson is followed by Ashton the Anglican, Hughes the “Free Church Man”, and Keller the Presbyterian. Each explains how they approach the worship service and how these unique congregations approach the Holy One. Each contributor provides sample liturgies to be sure. But more importantly, each contributor explains their own liturgical reasoning along the way and refers to helpful outside resources as well. An evangelical pastor consulting this work to deepen his own understanding of worship will be greatly helped to hear why a “Free Church” in the bastion of evangelicalism (Wheaton, IL) uses the Apostle’s Creed. He also will be greatly helped by Keller’s summation of the basics of Reformed worship according to Calvin. In like manner, Ashton seeks to present the genius of Thomas Cranmer, architect of the Book of Common Prayer to an audience who may not be familiar with his work. For the church seeking to renew its worship Biblically and theologically, Worship by the Book provides an excellent starting point. It will prove itself a faithful and gentle guide for those seeking its help. 
Worship by the Book is available at our online store.
Chuck Huckaby is a tentmaking pastor in Lawrenceburg TN. His church’s website is http://MissionLawrence.org
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