The Oxford History of Christian Worship

by Geoffrey Wainwright (Editor), Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

The Oxford History of Christian Worship is a comprehensive and authoritative history of the origins and development of Christian worship to the present day. Backed by an international roster of experts as contributors, this new book will examine the liturgical traditions of Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant, and Pentecostal traditions throughout history and across the world. With 240 photographs and 10 maps, the full geographical spread of Christianity is covered, including Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and the Pacific. Following contemporary trends in scholarship, it will cover social and cultural contexts, material culture and the arts.
Written to be accessible to the educated layperson, this unique and beautiful volume will also appeal to clergy and liturgists and more generally to students and scholars of the liturgy, Christian theology, church history, and world history.

Genres: History, Religion, Reference, Christianity, Church History, Theology, Church

937 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2005

Reviews

[Andrew McHenry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very detailed and lengthy compilation piece, but (because of that) it is also very thorough. It covers worship developments in Christian history the world over -- going through the full gamut: Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox; European, American, and all other continents; the earliest stages of church history, the middle ages, the Reformation, and beyond; etc. Some of the writings are challenging; the authors refer to worship practices that are largely unknown outside their own traditions. At times you need an online encyclopedia to keep up with all they're discussing. Other times it just becomes tedious. But it's a good read for broadening your appreciation of Christian history and the wider spectrum of worship. I'm glad I read it.

[Michael Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heavily skewed towards a high church liturgical perspective, yet still offers so much information on origins of ritual, dress, and historical influences that I seriously considered giving it five stars despite some oversights (in my opinion). I definitely rejoice that I read every page of this book and recommend that you do the same. It is tedious at times(People who think Ferguson's book on baptism is tedious have not read this book; I have read both.), but yields spectacular insights and nuggets of information that more than justify reading all the book to find. I especially appreciated the attitude and the final sentence of the closing chapter.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice solid binding, great illustrations, 900+ pp., really an amazing work.

IDEOLOGY
All mainline Protestants (liberals and neo-orthodox, for lack of a better generalization), progressive Ro. Catholics, or Eastern Orthodox, plus one charismatic from Westmont. The Methodists are the most numerous, but the writers span the Xian family tree (Lutherans, Mennonites, etc.). The only ones left out are Evangelicals (with the exception of the Westmont author). A big group to leave out, but not surprising.

SCOPE: Global, historic (AD 30-present), ecumenical (see above), detailed (34 chapters, over 900 pp.)

[Shannon Hedges · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband gave this to me when we were dating. It's not as thorough as one might expect.