Comments on: Continuity Between Prophetic Worship and the New Testament: A Puritan’s Doorway to Traditional Liturgy (Part 3)

By: Christopher Thomas Miller

Christopher Thomas Miller — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:14:00 +0000

>>>After all, we wouldn’t want to look Catholic . . .<<

By: Steven Wedgeworth

Steven Wedgeworth — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Christopher,The Bradshaw recommendation is a good one, though I think I'm less skeptical than he is in that book. Still good info though.The point of connection is with the Jews and Temple and Synagogue stuff. Unfortunately the AnteNicene church tended to over separate from the Jews, losing a good deal, as well as bringing in a little bit of fishy stuff to fill the gap. 4th-5th is way too late. You've already got major schisms by that point and almost a wholesale loss of Hebrew conversationalists.

By: Berek Qinah Smith

Berek Qinah Smith — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:06:00 +0000

it took teh church till the 4th or 5th centuries to figure out what exactly to do. by that time we have a fairly consistent liturgy and sacramental practice both east and west.none of the early christians looked at the new testament to try to figure out how they were to worship … they read the new testament in light of how they already worshiped.

By: Christopher Kou

Christopher Kou — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:35:00 +0000

Thanks, Steven. I do have a couple of Barker's books, including that one. It's rather helpful. Gotta watch out for her odd Christology, yeah.For reference on the myth of universality of liturgy, Paul Bradshaw's "Search For the Origins of Christian Worship" is a great book.

By: Steven Wedgeworth

Steven Wedgeworth — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Let me qualify my tradition bit. I'd be willing to give certain features a "normative" status, though I wouldn't rest liturgical validity upon that. Still, I'd be very skeptical as the claims of "ancient" and "near universal." We actually don't have much of anything that meets those requirements (that would be much more like Jewish Christianity), except for those components that ever major denomination still retains (not usually what folks are getting at, though).

By: Steven Wedgeworth

Steven Wedgeworth — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Christopher,Though there is some fishy stuff in the mix, you might appreciate Barkers work on this topic: http://www.margaretbarker.com/Papers/TempleRootsofChristianLiturgy.pdf

By: Steven Wedgeworth

Steven Wedgeworth — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:22:00 +0000

Tradition is not prescriptive (that's really giving up the Reformation IMO) , but it is helpful.