Product 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #299237 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 207 pages

Customer Reviews

A Challenging Proposal for Evangelical Worship Renewal
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.

Excellent book for Protestants and Catholics
Although written by an evangelical Protestant, the book has a strong Catholic orientation and good insight into the weaknesses of the evangelical tradition. Well worth a Catholic reading to bolster his own faith as welll as understand the larger Christian world, and the influences that have brought me into the Catholic Church. I recommend the book be read in small segments meditatively as the book is pretty meaty with ideas that need to be digested and pondered. Written at an easy post-graduate level.

4.5 stars!
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.