Evangelical Worship Book Review

Improved Essays
Elmer Towns is a college and seminary professor who wrote a selection of books related to biblical education, such as Bible Answers for All Your Questions. Vernon Whaley works at Liberty University as the Chairman of the Department of Music and Worship Studies. He also wrote a few books related to Christian worship such as Understanding Music and Worship in the Local Church. In Worship Through the Ages: How the Great Awakenings Shape Evangelical Worship, the authors make an analysis of the main past events that shaped Evangelical worship, such as the Great Awakenings, the Jesus Movement, and the Praise and Worship movements.
Summary
The authors’ main purpose is to present a description of the historical aspects that influenced Christian worship
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Moreover, in chapter six, the authors describe the Reformation and its consequences on Catholic and Protestant worship. In addition, they analyze the Great Awakenings in Europe and America during the eighteenth century. From chapter nine to chapter sixteen, Towns and Whaley describe the revival movements that influenced the history of Christian worship in the Protestant church. Furthermore, in the last chapter, the authors explore major characteristics of Christian worship occurring during the twenty first century, such as the evangelical tradition and the charismatic renewal movement …show more content…
They present a description of the main historical aspects that marked Christian worship which is relatively stimulating to read and to comprehend. One would agree that is somewhat useful to have a list of historical events that influenced Christian worship as illustrated by the authors in this work (375-82). Towns and Whaley main source of study is based on a variety of books and articles that they studied in order to clarify their thesis. Moreover, the citations marks at the end of each chapter allow readers to have additional references about the subject. Thus, the authors argue that is fundamental to have a historical knowledge about worship history in order to make Christian worship a comprehensive Christian practice (8).
Another strength of this work is related to the main biblical thoughts presented by Towns and Whaley. The reader can have a biblical definition of Christian worship as illustrated by the authors at the beginning of the book (4). The authors quote a biblical passage that defines worship. “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30 KJV). Furthermore, the first three chapters of the book is essentially associated with biblical worship because the authors explain in which ways worship functioned in the Old and New

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