Best Theological Books on Worship

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Coram Deo

Puritan Board Junior
Regulative Principle of Worship

Worship in the Presence of God
Gospel Worship by Jeremiah Burroughs
With Reverence and Awe by D.G. Hart

Dialogical Principle of Worship

Worship in the Presence of God
The Beauty of Reformed Liturgy by VanDooren
With Reverence and Awe by D.G. Hart


Best Books for each major element in great details

Prayer

Gospel Incense by Thomas Cobbet
Method of Prayer by Matthew Henry

Psalms

Songs of Zion by Michael Bushell

- Musical Instruments

Old Light on New Worship By John Price
Musical Instruments by John L. Girardeau

Eucharist

Given For You: Reclaiming Calvin's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper by Mathison
The Mystical Presence by John Nevin

Preaching

The Art of Prophesying by William Perkins

Baptism

Baptism: a Joyful Sign by D. Marion Clark
Christian Baptism by John Murray

Spiritual Elements of Worship

Gospel Fear by Jeremiah Burroughs
Gospel Worship by Jeremiah Burroughs

Reading and Hearing the Word of God

Worship in the Presence of God Section

Occasion Elements of Thanksgiving/Fasting/Oaths

Worship in the Presence of God Section
 
I don't claim that any of these are the "best," but here are some additions:

I found O Come, Let Us Worship by Robert G. Rayburn helpful in making theological and Scriptural connections and in giving practical suggestions.

From a historical perspective, I found Corporate Worship in the Reformed Tradition by James Hastings Nichols and Worship: Reformed according to Scripture by Hughes Oliphant Old to be instructive. A study of the reformation of worship by the Reformers will obviously shed some light on the theological reasons for the changes.

I, too, particularly liked With Reverence and Awe.

:2cents:
 
What about Terry Johnson's Reformed Worship: Worship that is According to Scripture? I haven't read it but have heard good things about it.
 
Which of the above do you think are the most practical? I don't usually use that word, but I'm short on time.
 
Didn't somebody named Daniel Ritchie write something about worship once? I think I heard it was pretty good!

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Worship in the Presence of God by Lachman

But truthfully I have trouble just recommending ONLY 1... Everybody should have the the list above and hard to to do without...


Which of the above do you think are the most practical? I don't usually use that word, but I'm short on time.
 
You mean that crazy guy....... :eek:

I heard that all those Northern Irelander were crazy.. :think: They don't even speak right... Pants are outer garments not underwear... :p



Didn't somebody named Daniel Ritchie write something about worship once? I think I heard it was pretty good!

bigtup.gif
 
Sorry Daniel that your book was not on the list.. The reason was I have not read it yet and so could not testify to how good it is... Of course with so many books on my list and so little money to buy and since I already have so many worship books as it is I feel like might be only able to afford and buy your Biblical Civil Government Book that I so want to read.....

Of course, I think I was told you spoke against headcoverings in your worship book, so it is already anathema in my books... ;) :lol:

Michael




Didn't somebody named Daniel Ritchie write something about worship once? I think I heard it was pretty good!

bigtup.gif

That is true. I cannot possibly comment upon its quality (Prov. 27:2). :lol:
 
Reforming Mother Kirk by D.G. Hart
The Worship of the English Puritans by Horton Davies
Prayer by John Bunyan
Thoughts on Family Worship by JW Alexander

to add to the list...
 
Keep in mind though, that I concede your view of headcoverings in the only credible one (apart from my own position).


Sorry Daniel that your book was not on the list.. The reason was I have not read it yet and so could not testify to how good it is... Of course with so many books on my list and so little money to buy and since I already have so many worship books as it is I feel like might be only able to afford and buy your Biblical Civil Government Book that I so want to read.....

Of course, I think I was told you spoke against headcoverings in your worship book, so it is already anathema in my books... ;) :lol:

Michael




Didn't somebody named Daniel Ritchie write something about worship once? I think I heard it was pretty good!

bigtup.gif

That is true. I cannot possibly comment upon its quality (Prov. 27:2). :lol:
 
You mean that crazy guy....... :eek:

I heard that all those Northern Irelander were crazy.. :think: They don't even speak right... Pants are outer garments not underwear... :p



Didn't somebody named Daniel Ritchie write something about worship once? I think I heard it was pretty good!

bigtup.gif

Yes, Northern Irelanders generally are crazy....but not as crazy as people who call trousers "pants" and football "soccer". :lol:
 
I'm currently reading "Unceasing Worship" by Harold Best. Pretty good so far.

Yeah, I guess that'd be the Best book on worship, wouldn't it?

:lol: Well, here are some of my favorites on worship (I've left out a number of books on the Lord's Day, the Lord's Supper, baptism and a few other areas of worship, because my list was just getting too long):

Jeremaiah Burrough, Gospel Worship
Archibald Hall, Gospel Worship
William Ames, A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God’s Worship
Frank Smith and David Lachman, Worship in the Presence of God
Alexander Blaikie, Catechism on Praise
William Young, The Puritan Regulative Principle of Worship
G.I. Williamson, The Regulative Principle of Worship
Brian Schwertley, Are Liturgies Authorized by Scripture?
Malcolm Watts and David Silversides, The Worship of God
Michael Bushell, The Songs of Zion
John McNaugher, The Psalms in Worship
The True Psalmody
Thomas Ford, Singing of Psalms: The Duty of Christians Under the New Testament
John Keddie, Sing the Lord’s Songs: Biblical Psalms in Worship
Brian Schwertley, A Brief Examination of Exclusive Psalmody
James Dick, Hymns and Hymnbooks
G.I. Williamson, The Singing of Psalms in the Worship of God
John Price, Old Light on New Worship
John L. Girardeau, Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church
Robert Nevin, Instrumental Music in the Christian Worship
Select Works of James Begg on Worship
Brian Schwertley, Musical Instruments in the Public Worship of God
Oliver Heywood, The Family Altar
George Hamond, The Case for Family Worship
J.W. Alexander, Thoughts on Family Worship
Daniel Cawdrey, Family Reformation Promoted
Kerry Ptacek, Family Worship: Biblical Basis, Historical Reality, Current Need
Brian Schwertley, The Regulative Principle of Worship and Christmas
George Gillespie, English Popish Ceremonies
David Calderwood, Perth Assembly
Thomas Cobbet, Gospel Incense, or A Practical Treatise on Prayer
Horton Davies, The Worship of the English Puritans
Richard Steele, A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in the Worship of God
John Knox, True and False Worship
Matthew Henry, A Method for Prayer
David Clarkson, Public Worship to be Preferred Before Private

Links and Downloads Manager - Worship - The PuritanBoard
 
Does anyone know anything about this symposium work?

The Biblical Doctrine of Worship: A Symposium

It received the following notice in “The Regulative Principle Of Worship: Sixty Years In Reformed Literature. Part One (1946-1999),” in The Confessional Presbyterian 2 (2006) 107-108. Apologies for the formating dropping out in the cut and paste.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), a denomination often referred to by its nickname (“Covenanters”), has been in existence since the eighteenth century. Despite some challenges to its worship views, particularly in the twentieth century, it has always maintained a cappella exclusive psalmody. However, the church as a whole has not always understood why it continued to hold to that traditional Presbyterian position.56
In 1973, the RPCNA undertook a symposium on the doctrine of worship. The various essays were gathered in a book in January 1974, entitled, The Biblical Doctrine of Worship: A Symposium to state and clarify the Scriptural teachings concerning worship with emphasis on the use of the Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship.57 Several of the essays dealt directly with the regulative principle of worship.
The opening essay was by Dr. John H. White, who would later serve as President of Geneva College, the denominational school in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.58 One of his conclusions is that “Worship (service) ‘latreia’ must be seen in both its narrow sense (cultic institutions, etc.) and in its broad sense (all of life is a service before the Lord)” (Robson, 11).
The notion that worship can be thought of as encompassing all of life (even with a distinction between worship in a broad sense and in narrow sense) can lead to the perspective that the regulative principle applies to all of life. This is indeed the view taken by Professor Norman Shepherd, then a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary and minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Referring to Deuteronomy 12:32 (“Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor taken away from it”), Mr. Shepherd claims: “This principle applies to the whole scope of our obedience to God. We may properly speak of it as the regulative principle for human life.”59
Professor Shepherd essentially undercut one of the key Scriptural supports for the regulative principle. If there is not an essential difference between the principles which govern life and the principles which govern worship, then the regulative principle of worship, as conceived historically in the Reformed faith, becomes meaningless.60
On the other hand, numerous contributors did maintain the traditional understanding of the regulative principle.61 Particularly noteworthy in this regard were contributions by John Murray and William Young.62
In dealing with the Four Gospels, Professor Murray argues from John 4:24 that worship “‘in spirit and truth’ bears directly upon the content of worship. If worship must be consonant with the nature of God, it must be in accord with what God has revealed himself to be and regulated as to content and mode by the revelation God has given in holy Scripture. The sanction enunciated (‘in spirit and truth’) excludes all human invention and imagination and warns us against the offence and peril of offering strange fire unto the Lord. No principle more than this inculcates jealousy to ascertain that what we offer has the warrant of divine authority” (Robson, 93–94).
In dealing with Matthew 15:2–9, he notes that the particular occasion for Jesus’ words “was the subterfuge by which the fifth commandment has been made void” (Robson, 95). At first blush, one might be led to believe that the professor’s position is that worship encompasses all of life. However, the Westminster Seminary professor was being far more precise, and rather making the point that all of life falls under God’s law. He definitely would have rejected the notion that all of life is worship, or that the regulation of life in general was synonymous with the regulation of worship.
---------
56. This is not to say that there were not ministers and others who did understand. Nor is it to say that the RPCNA did not maintain a general orthodoxy. Citing Nancy E. Clark’s M.A. thesis at Butler University (“A History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church”), John Allen Diluvik contends that the reason why the “New Light”
Reformed Presbyterians (i.e., the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, General Synod—the group that ultimately merged into the Presbyterian Church in America) changed its denominational worship, is because of a doctrinal decline; see John Allen Diluvik, The Doctrine and History of Worship in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (Pittsburgh, Pa.: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1982) 178.
57. Edward A. Robson, Philip W. Martin, John M. McMillan, eds., The Biblical Doctrine of Worship: A Symposium to state and clarify the Scriptural teachings concerning worship with emphasis on the use of the Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship (N.p. [Pittsburgh, Pa.]: Board of Education and Publication, 1974). Hereafter Robson.
58. John H. White, “Worship in the Pentateuch,” in Robson, The Biblical Doctrine of Worship, 1–15.
59. Norman Shepherd, “The Biblical Basis for the Regulative Principle of Worship,” in Robson, 42–56. The quote is on page 44. See also “An Exposition of Matthew 15:3–9,” penned by the Session of the Sterling (Kan.) Reformed Presbyterian Church (99–100); the Session opines that “all of life is worship for it is lived in the presence of God.”
60. Within a few years, Professor Shepherd would become embroiled in a controversy regarding the doctrine of justification. He eventually left the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for the Christian Reformed Church of North America. His views have recently been condemned by the Reformed Church in the United States as being “another gospel”; see “RCUS Synod Declares Views of Norman Shepherd to be Another Gospel,” Presbyterian & Reformed News 10.1–4 (January–December 2004) 1.
61. See S. Ray Blair, “According to the Pattern Shown in the Mount: An Examination of Exodus 25:40” (Robson, 23–26); Paul M. Martin, “An Exposition of Leviticus 10:1–3” (27–31); Robert W. McMillan, “An Exposition of Deuteronomy 12:30–32” (32–39); M. L. McFarland, “An Exposition of Deuteronomy 12:29–39” (40–41); Robert B. McCracken, “An Exposition of II Chronicles 26:16–21” (77–81); Robert W. Morrow, “II Chronicles 26:16–21” (82–83).
62. John Murray, “The Worship of God in the Four Gospels” (Robson, 92–98); and William Young, “The Second Commandment: The Principle that God is To Be Worshipped Only in Ways Prescribed in Holy Scripture and That The Holy Scripture Prescribes The Whole Content of Worship—Taught by Scripture Itself” (Robson, 307–315). Dr. Young’s contribution was his classic piece on the Second Commandment.


 
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