Changed from Glory into Glory: The Liturgical Story of the Christian Faith (Aniol)

Description

Through tracing the liturgical history of the Christian faith from its foundation in Old Testament Israel through the early church, middle ages, Reformation, to the present, this book demonstrates that liturgy forms religion and religion forms liturgy.

One of the best ways to truly understand what lies at the core of the Christian faith is by studying its worship, for corporate worship does something far more significant than many Christians recognize—public worship both reveals belief and forms belief. How community worships—its content, its liturgy, and its forms of expression—reveals the underlying religious commitments of those who plan and lead the worship. Conversely, corporate worship forms the beliefs of the worshipers. Public worship is not simply about authentic expression of the worshipers; rather, how a church worships week after week progressively shapes their beliefs since those worship practices were cultivated by and embody certain beliefs.

This is why it is so important for church leaders, and indeed all Christians, to carefully identify what kinds of beliefs have shaped their various worship practices so that they will choose to worship in ways that best form their minds and hearts consistent with their theological convictions. That is the goal of this book: studying worship in the Old and New Testaments will reveal how God deliberately prescribed worship that would form his people as he desires, and tracing the evolution of Christian worship from after the close of the New Testament to the present day will help elucidate how theological beliefs affected the worship practices Christians have inherited.

Endorsements

"Scott Aniol’s Changed from Glory into Glory is an excellent guide to the history and practice of worship in the Old Testament and the Christian church from the New Testament to the present. Though writing from the perspective of an evangelical, his even-handed approach points out the positive features of each era and worship form, as well as areas in which they might have gone astray. He makes the strong case, supported through biblical and historical study, that how we worship both reveals and forms our faith. I learned a lot from it—and you will too. This is a fine resource for church leader and layperson alike, and it deserves careful and prayerful reading."
—David W. Music, Professor of Church Music, Baylor University

The reasons that I am enthusiastic about this book are many, but I will condense them to these five. One, it gives a narrative and doctrinal interaction with the history of Christian worship from Adam to the present. Two, it shows the revealed manner of worship from Genesis to Revelation isolating the principles that govern God’s message of how he is to be approached. Three, it shows how these principles were implemented and followed in large part throughout the history of the church while indicating how culture and populism began to reshape the cultus and even pollute this biblical pattern. Four, the author unashamedly, and in harmony with the necessity of Christian witness and conviction, encourages sound biblical thinking about the preeminent element of human life, worship. Five, he sets forth a specific manner of ordering worship that he believes is in accord with biblical principles and the best elements of liturgical development in the church—Gospel-shaped worship. This book is a work of Christian scholarship, thoroughly engaging to the mind, challenging to the heart, and is aimed at edification in a way equivalent to its information."
—Tom J. Nettles, Senior Professor of Historical Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"In this book, Scott Aniol leads us on a fascinating, guided tour of worship from ancient Israel to the contemporary church. Though written from a Baptist perspective, this book carefully examines a vast variety of approaches to liturgy through the ages. Aniol has provided a very helpful resource for both students of the history of worship and those charged to lead worship today."
—Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary