WORSHIPPING WITH CALVIN
Recovering the historic ministry and worship
of Reformed Protestantism
By Terry L. Johnson
EP Books. 433 pages. £11.99
ISBN 978 0 852 349 366
Neo-Calvinism is a growing and influential movement in the United States, but the renaissance of Reformed theology is not often accompanied by a commitment to historic Reformed worship.
This concerns Terry Johnson, because the Reformation significantly changed the public worship of the church and John Calvin is one of the most influential ‘worship leaders’ of church history.
Johnson examines Calvin’s worship practices (directed by his theology) and identifies five key characteristics – it is God-centred, Bible-filled, gospel-structured, church-aware, and Spirit-dependent. Of these, Johnson gives greatest attention to worship being Bible-filled, advocating that in public services God’s Word is to be read, preached, prayed, sung, and seen (in the Lord’s Supper and in baptism). Throughout the book, frequent reference is made to the liturgical practices of the Reformers and the patristic church.
At times I found Johnson to be overly dismissive of contemporary worship, describing extremes and too accepting of 1 6 t h - c e n t u r y Geneva as a pattern for worship across all times and cultures. But the book encouraged me to reflect on contemporary worship in a number of areas. For example, it is easy to be so congregationally focused, driven by evangelistic concern, that we lose sight that God is the main audience of our worship. Also, I was challenged to incorporate more substantial Bible reading and ‘conceived prayer’ (prepared prayer) in public worship.
I agreed with Johnson that often there is little theological reflection when introducing new forms of worship and that public worship ought always to be congregational rather than individualistic.
This book is particularly suited to church leaders and those responsible for leading public worship.
