Early Christian Worship: A Basic Introduction to Ideas and Practice

by Paul F. Bradshaw

A straight-forward, readable introduction to worship in the first four centuries of the church's existence. How did early Christians see and understand their own worship? How did this interact with early Christian beliefs? The book has been brought up to date and revised, with some chapters rewritten and an updated bibliography.

Genres: Religion, History, Academic

104 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Tim Michiemo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.9 Stars

This is more of an collection of the ideas and practices of the early church, rather than an introduction. Bradshaw fails to show why these practices are important for the life of the church today and does not bring in any applications for believers today. This is mainly because of Bradshaw's view of early church history as a diverse and fragmented faith that was gradually homogenized in the 4th century. So, rather than stressing the unity of the faith and following a coherent narrative throughout the early church, what Bradshaw offers is more of a shotgun of fragments of early church practice. Overall more could have been done by Bradshaw pedagogically to bring the reader into these practices and why it matters today, but ultimately Bradshaw suffers because of his fragmented view of the early church.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and thorough, if a bit dry