Documents of Christian Worship: Descriptive and Interpretive Sources

Excellent book, very informative on Theology and the History of the Church, defintely worth the purchase, handy to have as a study guide with the Bible.

I have to read this book for a class, and I find it interesting. It brings to the forefront different perspectives that I would've never considered or thought of on my own.

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"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. WhiteSacrosanctum 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 established worship patterns. We are scrambling for solutions to the contemporary vs. traditional worship style battles. At the same time, 'participation' in worship actually raises some deep issues to which we must attend if we continue on our journey of worship renewal." Some of these issues will become clear as the reader reflects on the need for liturgical pedagogy, which White stressed in the 'Interpretive part of Worship Documents.'Interpreting the Sources:The book begins by surveying the various Christian liturgical traditions, Time and space as liturgical communications, developments in Christian worship, as the Daily public prayer, The Service or Liturgy of the word. The second half of the book covers the sacraments, Baptism as initiation, The Eucharist as doctrine and rite, and surveys confession/ penance, healing of the sick, Christian marriage, ordination and burial. Throughout the author stresses the need for liturgical pedagogy, the teaching of the meaning of various elements constituting the liturgy. White methodology is to survey main forms of transmission of the essence of Christian living, and the various elements within the Christian tradition. "Space as Communication;" gives a concise representation of architectures and furnishings, as liturgical centers with photographs and sketches. White explains the message of worship places, drawing worshippers thoughts upwards, or symbolizing God's holiness, etc.Some Ancient Sources:Serapion Prayer Book:This document, in the British Museum, is a celebrants book, containing thirty prayers belonging to the mass, baptism , ordination, benediction of oil, bread and water, and burial, omitting the fixed structural formulae of the rites. Sarapion was bishop of Thmuis (c. 350), in the Nile Delta and a prominent supporter of Athanasius against Arianism, best known in connection with his sacramentary prayer-book, intended for the use of bishops. This book is important as the earliest liturgical collection on so large a scale.Monastic Horologion:After briefly covering Hippolytus text, and origen, On Prayer, he mentioned, 'The Peoples Office,' which started with the Didache morning and evening prayer becoming public. He then quotes John Cassian Institutes, on the Monastic Office called Agpeya, or the hours. This is the survived version of the 4th century Coenobitic office of Pachomian Koenonia, fellowship of prayer in time. This hourly prayer book of the Church of Alexandria developed from the twelve psalms that the novice monks trained in to the life of prayer, alleged to an angelic advice according to the Lausiac history.James F. White (1932-2004):James was born in Boston, Mass., graduated from Harvard U., undertaking seminary studies at Union Theological in New York. He was ordained deacon and elder in the United Methodist Church. He studied at Cambridge, UK, and earned a PhD in Church History at Duke U. Dr. White's academic career, spanned four decades, teaching liturgy at the U. of Notre Dame from 1983 until his retirement in 1999. Dr. White also taught at Drew, Emory, Yale and The C. U. of America. Member of nine learned societies, and past president of the N. American Academy of Liturgy, Dr. White was dedicated to revitalizing church worship. Author of 20 books, wrote extensively on worship, sacraments, and liturgical architecture.

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.