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Title: Orthodox Worship: A Living Continuity With the Temple, the Synagogue by Benjamin D. Williams, H. Anstall, Benjamin Anastall ISBN: 0-937032-72-7 Publisher: Light & Life Communications Pub. Date: June, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent history, review & invitation to liturgical worship
Comment: "Orthodox Worship" is essentially two books and a pamphlet under one cover.

In Part I: "Understanding the Divine Liturgy", Benjamin D. Williams, explains the development of Christian worship, starting with the Early Church and its roots in Scripture and the Jewish traditions of temple and synagogue worship.

In Part II: Harold B. Anstall takes the reader on "A Journey Through the Liturgy." Here he starts with "The Interior of an Orthodox Church," which is appropriate, since that is usually the first thing someone experiences upon attending any service in the Orthodox Church. The rest of this section goes through a step-by-step explanation of everything that is said and done in a Divine Liturgy, the "main event" of Orthodox Christian worship.

In the conclusion: "A Call to Worship," Williams invites the Western reader to visit, understand and experience liturgical worship as practiced in the Orthodox Church. Here he gives a quick, understandable overview of how Christianity in the West has departed, and continues to travel farther, from its historical roots in liturgical worship.

I first read "Orthodox Worship," after attending a series of lectures by Frank Schaeffer (son of the late Evangelical apologist and theologian, Francis Schaeffer) in 1997. At that point I was firmly entrenched in an Evangelical church as a praise band director and worship leader. Schaeffer explained his departure from Evangelicalism and his "coming home" to the Orthodox Church. (For more about that, see his book "Dancing Alone.") I began visiting a couple of Orthodox churches in our area, and decided I wanted to understand what was going on.

After my first reading of "Orthodox Worship," I concluded that:

1. Liturgical worship does indeed have its roots in Scripture and in the practices of the Early Church, as practiced in the book of Acts.

2. There is a reason for everything that is said and done in the Divine Liturgy, and that it is all based on Scripture and the development of the Christian faith in the first three centuries.

Now, several years later, as I approach the second anniversary of my own "coming home" to the Orthodox Church, I decided to reread this volume. Now that I've gradually let liturgical worship become an integral part of my life, and now that I sing in (and sometimes direct) our parish choir, I found completely different quotes jumping off the page than the ones I highlighted the first time through, such as:

"It is worth noting...that the frequently quoted passage..."where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them" is not a stand-alone proposition. It has a very specific context, and that context is The Church! (page 80)."

I'd recommend this fine introductory volume to people who want to investigate the roots of liturgical Christian worship, to those who are inquiring about the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as to those Orthodox Christians who need a refresher course on the Divine Liturgy. The only drawback of the edition I read was the many typographical errors scattered throughout the book, which was a little distracting.

(...)

Rating: 4
Summary: The author's view
Comment: This book was written with a specific audience in mind: western Christians, especially Protestants, interested in the history and development of Christian worship. As the sub-title demonstrates, Christian worship developed out of Jewish worship practices, that were informed by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and were transformed by the early Christian church into the core of Christian worship. For most western Christians, and particularly Protestants (and both author's were raised as Protestants) this is a little known fact. Besides tracing the history and development of Christian worship, the book also contains a step-by-step commentary on the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the common Sunday morning service of the Orthodox churches. This book was written for "the common person", and does not require a theological background. It is straight forward and accessible.