edited by Leanne Van Dyke. Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005. ISBN 0-8028-2854-X. Pb., 155 pp. $15.
Leanne Van Dyke, at the end of her contribution to this book of essays on theology and worship reminds us that if one pulls on a single thread of worship practices, “theological implications begin to spill out,” and if one pulls on a single thread of theology, “worship practices begin to spill out.” Accordingly, the “thoughtful pastor, church leader, and lay person will wish to think through these mutual integrations so that worship and theology can fit together and be a fragrant offering to God.” (p.78)
Van Dyke’s own effort to trace the mutual relations between what we believe and how we worship centers on the church’s task of proclamation, pairing our understanding of the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ with the word that engages us in Scripture, sacrament, preaching, and other liturgical moments. She is joined in this integrative effort by five other contributors: John Witvliet, whose initial essay deals with the opening of worship and its Trinitarian shape; William Dryness, who traces the mutual connections between the church’s act of confession and the doctrines of sin and grace; Ron Byars, whose essay shows how the church’s practice of confessing the faith in creedal form (and in the prayers of the liturgy) implies a certain doctrine of the church that in turn sheds light on the meaning of our confessing; Martha Moore-Keish, who writes on the deep connections between the church’s practice of celebrating the Eucharist and its eschatological hope; and David Stubbs, who helps us see the end of worship as the calling to live in such a way that our lives do not mock our worship but rather reflect its truth and reality.
There are many wonderful things about this book that commend it to pastors and sessions and chairs of worship committees. Each essay is written in clear and intelligent prose but without jargon or academic posturing. More importantly, this book believes that theology is the business of the whole church and is most at home when it is directly engaged in the church’s life of worship.
This book is an example of Reformed theology at its best. We should be grateful for such a clear and thoughtful book that reminds us how daring and un-boring faithful worship actually is, and how much Reformed theology has to contribute to our understanding.
Thomas W. Currie is dean and professor of theology at Union-PSCE at Charlotte, N.C.
