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Liturgical Theology: The Church As Worshiping Community
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Average Rating:  out of 8 Reviews
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Price: $23.00
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Sale: $13.95
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Manufacturer: InterVarsity Press
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780830827633
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: Simon Chan
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Publisher: InterVarsity Press
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Dewey Decimal Number: 230.04624
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Publication Date: 2006-07-31
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Reading Level: 207
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Description: Bad worship produces bad theology, and bad theology produces an unhealthy church.In Liturgical Theology, Simon Chan issues a call to evangelicals to develop a mature theology of the church--an ecclesiology that is grounded in the church's identity as a worshiping community. Evangelicals, he argues, are confused about the meaning and purpose of the church in part because they have an inadequate understanding of Christian worship. As a remedy for this ailment, Chan presents a coherent theology of the church that pays particular attention to the liturgical practices that have constituted Christian worship throughout the centuries. With a seasoned eye and steady hand, he guides the reader through these practices and unpacks their significance for theology, spirituality and the renewal of evangelicalism in the postmodern era.Chan's proposal advances the conversation among evangelicals regarding the relationship between theology and worship. In contrast to some theologians who have tended to emphasize a sociological analysis, Chan argues that we need to consider what is essential to the church's theological identity. Drawing on the larger Christian tradition, Chan argues that we discover that identity primarily in the structure and significance of Christian worship.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: To the Borders of Catholicism... |
Date: 2008-10-22 |
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Details: Most evangelical thinkers agree. The main problem that plagues evangelicalism is its faulty ecclesiology. Because of this inadequate understanding of the doctrine of the church, our worship suffers.
Simon Chan's Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshiping Community (IVP Academic, 2006) seeks to remedy the problem by grounding our theology in the historic liturgies of the church. Chan puts his finger on many of the problems with our worship, including our targeting a "market niche" instead of asking the perennial question: What does it mean to be a Christian?
I agree with many of Chan's complaints regarding shallow worship, man-centered services, and an emphasis on instant conversions instead of life-long discipleship. I also find intriguing Chan's declaration that the church does not exist for the world, but the world for the church. Could it be though that this inward focus on the church has undesired implications?
I do have to part ways with Chan when it comes to the rest of his proposal. Though I agree (for the most part) with Chan's description of evangelicalism's shortcomings, I firmly disagree with his solutions. Chan sees the answer to evangelicalism's problems in readopting the worship of the ancient church. Not the New Testament church, but the early church.
In order to do this, he must do away with sola Scriptura, which he does in the first chapter. He makes the case for seeing Tradition as authoritative, and even declares that tradition (not Scripture) is the means by which the church understands its true identity. Once he establishes Tradition as authoritative, he is free to blaze right through the remaining chapters and argue for a liturgy like that of the third and fourth centuries, footnoting church fathers all along the way.
To be fair, there are times when Chan believes evangelicalism corrects the excesses of the early church. But overall, he unapologetically calls for evangelicals to return to the forms and beliefs of the ancient church.
I do not have a problem with Chan's proposal that we learn from the ancient church. After all, there are plenty of traditions within Christianity's 2000 year history that are worth keeping, including the liturgical rhythm of Word and Sacrament in a worship service, the Church calendar which re-tells the Gospel story every year, and the reestablishment of catechesis as an initiation into the church.
Unfortunately, Chan seems to uncritically adopt ancient church rituals and beliefs, including many of the false presuppositions that come with them. At one point, he argues forcefully for the doctrine of transubstantiation. He confuses conversion with discipleship by declaring "conversion must be seen as a process rather than merely a crisis event." But the most surprising of Chan's suggestions is that we begin to read Scripture allegorically again, according to the "spiritual sense" advocated by many church fathers.
Perhaps that last example best shows what I disliked about this book. Chan is right to see the shortcomings of modern day evangelicalism, especially the ways we have been formed by culture instead of by Scripture. But I would ask: What about the shortcomings of the ancient church? Weren't there ways that the ancient church was formed by culture as well (especially in the Greek-influenced hermeneutic that influenced Bible interpretation)?
Liturgical Theology sounds promising for evangelicalism, but it ultimately brings us to the border of Roman Catholicism. The problem is that Chan chose to critique evangelicalism based on a romantic view of ancient church tradition instead of going back even further... to the New Testament itself. |
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Review Summary: 4.5 stars! |
Date: 2008-10-20 |
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Details: As an Anglican I very much appreciated this look at liturgy and worship as what Chan calls primary theology. Though I don't agree with everything in this book, he manages to explain the liturgy from both a theological, historical, and Scriptural point of view, as well as getting very practical in going piece-by-piece through the Sunday liturgy.
It wasn't until halfway through the book that I learned from another source that the author is not an Anglican, but is a Pentecostal!
Highly recommended for anyone who comes from a "liturgical" background and wants to challenge himself or herself to understand better the underpinnings of that. |
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Review Summary: A Challenging Proposal for Evangelical Worship Renewal |
Date: 2008-07-24 |
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Details: Simon Chan has given us here a challenging proposal that takes the evangelicals' self-searching mode a huge step forward as regards its worship and liturgy. In the intro, he evaluates the recent calls for renewal of the evangelical movement by theologians such as David Wells, Donald Bloesch and Stanley Grenz. Taking off from the works of Grenz and Robert Jenkins, the fresh insights he brings to the table include the need for the evangelical church to go beyond discussing style and technique and develop a more robust self-understanding that is rooted in the perichoretic union with the Trinity ie. the ontology of the church. What is interesting is his view of the church as prior to creation in the divine economy. This in his view has far reaching implications for the ecclesial life. Rather than being co-opted as a handmaiden to the world's agendas, the church's raison detre is found in God's irrevocable gift of election to the praise of his glory.
This means that the church is most clearly herself at worship. Drawing largely from the Great Tradition (of the first five centuries), he sees the normative liturgy as constituted by Word and Sacrament, flanked on both ends by the welcome and the dismissal. Within this order, he sees the Eucharist as the basic centre that gives shape and orientation to the liturgy. This is a corrective to the evangelicals' tendency in seeing the whole service as revolving around the sermon. It is the Eucharist, he contends, that realizes the Church in her most basic character as communion.
Chan then fleshes out his proposal as he looks at Christian initiation (Catechism)and the Sunday Liturgy and concludes with some thoughts on how the church can be formed spiritually through 'active participation' in worship. His program is a far cry from the mass appeal, humanly contrived and instant gratification models we see so much in the popular evangelical scene but if taken seriously and with perseverance, the church may for those rare times find herself buoyed up again by God's own Spirit to be what she has been called to be from before the foundation of the earth.
Chan's writing is eloquent and lucid, evident of a first rate theological mind with both feet planted firmly on the ground. His relatively simple prose may mask deep insights that can be mined only through patient listening (lectio divina!), ruminations and further readings. My only small 'complaint' is that the book is too short, leaving some assertions less rigorously argued than I would wish for (but he did make clear that this is not a full-blown work on liturgical theology) and this gifted teacher needs to write more and bless the Church with his refreshing insights. |
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Review Summary: Hard read |
Date: 2008-07-21 |
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Details: I bought this because my Archbishop and Bishop asked that we read it in anticipation of a conference featuring Simon Chan. I am still struggling through the first chapter. It is a deep read, but I am sure what I find lacking is on my part and not on the part of the book. I can see a flow in it, but I have to really work at it. Why does theology have to be so difficult? |
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Review Summary: Impressed |
Date: 2008-01-07 |
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Details: Impressed! Impressed! I have been enjoying the read very much. Bro. Chan is very insightful and does my heart good to finally have a voice to what we've been doing for years. Great book!! |
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