Worship Today Research Articles

Eksistensi Pujian Himne “Mengikut Yesus Keputusanku” dan Perkembangan Musik Kontemporer pada Liturgi Ibadah Masa Kini

The purpose of this research is to see and provide an understanding of the existence of a hymn in the liturgy of Christian worship today, both hymns and contemporary hymns, and the meaning of the hymn "Mengikut Yesus Keputusanku." A qualitative research method is used through a literature review in writing this scientific work. The results of this research are as follows. First, as church music grows in the liturgy of worship, it can be noted that whether or not the hymns of hymns are a little less, added several church denominations are coming to comfortable with the use of contemporary praise in the liturgy of worship, second, the "Mengikut Yesus Keputusanku." Praise is one of the great testimonies of those who sing this praise, regardless of this praise, it is a form of faith that one believes in God to this day, even this praise continues to grow with various translations and insights. Third, the presence of contemporary music and the praise of hymns should be combined into God.

가상 공간에서의 교회 모임에 대한 성서학적 근거에 관한 연구

Since the post-corona era, many studies have been conducted on the post-corona situation, the concept of uncontact, or non-contact meetings. In this situation, this article tries to explore the biblical basis for worship using remote video such as zoom and worship in the metaverse space in the post-corona era, but in particular, this biblical basis is called “temple theology” to try to find it. A correct biblical-theological understanding of the temple will reaffirm the biblical basis for non-contact and video worship today. The form of the temple has been constantly changing. This form of transformation can contribute to changing the past concept of understanding a building as a temple, and contributing to breaking the prejudice that church meetings are to be held in a building today. This study will enable an open attitude toward non-face-to-face worship and church gatherings beyond the practice of only recognizing face-to-face contact.

A Survey of Literatures on Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms in the Philippines

Over the past decades, numerous studies by both Filipino and foreign scholars have been made on the history of the Church in the Philippines. Such studies will continue to appear especially that the Church in the Philippines had already undergone various historic milestones and events, beginning in the latter part of the 20th century, most notably those that occurred after the convocation of the Second Vatican Council. The convocation of Vatican II and the events that occurred as a result of it alone has opened an opportunity for scholars to study the various effects of the Council’s reforms in the Philippine context, including those that concern the liturgy or the very act of worship to God. Such led to the creation of works which attempted to understand how the Church in the Philippines implemented these reforms and how it affected the way Filipino Catholics worship over time. These works are highlighted in this study. This study aims to make a survey of some of the presently available works written by researchers, which include monographs, articles, and unpublished works, concerning the implementation of the Vatican II liturgical reforms by the Church in the Philippines and its effects on the way Filipino Catholics worship today.

PEMAHAMAN BACAAN IBADAH SOLAT DI KALANGAN MASYARAKAT MELAYU ISLAM NUSANTARA: CADANGAN MODUL

Awareness Malay Muslim community in worship today is greatly increased. Education in the mosque for the public in the city as well as in the villages and hamlets is more advanced and extensive, covering all areas such as ‘aqidah, fiqh, morality, and so on. But in studying the basic sciences, the Malay Muslim culture still tied to the correct reading only, where they emphasize reading, implementing (fi'li), and keep the traditions, without focusing on the question of which maximum understanding and the self-values of such worship. The recitation of ibadah such as the recitation of prayers, supplications, and others is very much demanded to appreciate its meaning because it is one of the ‘obligatory ibadah in Islam. Understanding this reading is an important factor in obtaining the value of khusyu 'in worship. Then this article will focus on forms of worship into Malay Islamic culture that demands changes for the better and positive impact on the lives of individuals, families. society in a country. The author took a field research method to assess the needs of the community and the form of modules that need to be absorbed to them in understanding the daily worship conducted. The study showed that they are very excited with the proposed module and the results of the sample implementation test greatly affect the reading comprehension 'worship and can achieve the value of khusyu 'in performing worship.

하나님의 선교 내러티브의 구현과 성만찬의 선교적 재해석: 선교적 예배(Missional Worship)에 관한 소고

As pointed out by the Liturgical Movement, church worship today emphasizes the aspect of practical use in contemporary society, and the meaning of the liturgy has faded. If the missional church is the result of the God’s mission, then worship there must fully reveal the missional nature of the Triune God. Missional worship aims at encountering and experiencing missional God, rather than encouraging church members to serve local communities. Missional worship let all members of the church recognize themselves as being called and sent by God. To this end, in missional worship, God’s mission narrative recorded in the Bible must be fully embodied, and the Holy Communion, which has been too simplified in terms of quantity and quality, must be restored missionally.

Aesthetic Pleasure in the Worship of the Jina: Understanding Performance in Jain Devotional Culture

Performance has long been recognized to be a meaningful component in the worship of the Jina. This paper will focus on a particular aspect of devotional performance and historicize the phenomenon of ritual re-enactment of the Jina’s biography, a practice that remains significant to temple worship today. This paper will argue that the performance of the enlightened soul’s biography was familiar to Jains already in the early centuries of the common era and was not confined to the five auspicious events (kalyāṇakas). In a Śvetāmabara canonical text called the Rāyapaseṇiyasutta, this re-enactment is part of a greater, highly pleasurable spectacle that evokes a variety of aesthetic emotions, including erotic emotion, in the audience of monks. Through this discussion I will question the dichotomies between aesthetic pleasure and ritual efficacy and between drama and meritorious conduct and show that aesthetic pleasure, which lies at the heart of Jina worship, defines its meritorious value in the eyes of the devotees. The more splendid and aesthetically pleasing one’s expression of devotion, the more efficacious it is believed to be. I propose that the significance of the aesthetic element in devotional performance for laypeople stems from their temporary transformation into gods and goddesses. Celestial beings, as the paradigmatic enjoyers (bhoktṛ) of sensual pleasures, spend their life-spans relishing joy and rapture. As such, the pleasurable experiences of laypeople are essential for the veracity of their ritual transformation.

Imagination, Art, and Feminist Theology

This article explores the importance of imagination and art when developing and working with theology, particularly feminist theology. It begins with a short review of selected periods in Christian history that either supported or warned against the use of imagination and art in classical theological development. Feminist theology has had a different history because since its inception, imagination has been central to the formation and exploration of the field. Imagination and art have continued to develop and promote feminist theological worship, and backlash against feminist theology has also focused on these artistic expressions. I propose the term theological imaginizing for the intentional engagement and exploration of imagination and art with theology, and I share insights based on my field research for integrating feminist theology with art in Christian worship today.

The Writings: Psalms

The WritingsPsalms Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, Frederick E. Greenspahn, and William J. Urbrock 1741. [Psalms; ANE] Erhard Gerstenberger, "The Power of Praise in the Psalter. Human–Divine Synergies in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Scriptures," Israelite Religion and Old Testament Theology, 31-48 [see #2016]. In his essay, G. draws on ANE comparative evidence in exploring the presence in the Psalter of "old liturgical exaltations of the divine." More particularly, he uses Mesopotamian praise texts to develop a redefinition of the function of praise, i.e., as a force emitted to preserve or elevate the status of the one praised. Accordingly, in the Psalter, ongoing praise serves to uphold the lordship of the creator. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1742. [Psalms] Egbert Ballhorn, "Der Psalter als Haus der Stimmen: Heteroglossie als Schlüssel zu einer christlichen Lektüre der Psalmen," BZ N.S. 61 (2017) 1-23. The Psalms were composed by and for non-Christians. With what right then do Christians read and recite the psalms as "their" Christian texts? For B., the legitimacy and condition of possibility for their doing so are grounded in a feature of the psalms which he designates with a term coined by M. Bakhtin and used by him in reference to the novel genre; i.e., the psalms feature not one single, all-dominant voice ("monoglossia") but rather a plethora of voices: those of the human pray-er(s), that of the pray-er's enemies, and that of God himself, along with the voice of the psalms' authors who present the words of the voices in a given psalm to an audience. This pluri-vocal character of the psalms, of itself, invites others—including Jesus and subsequent Christians—to add their own voices to those of the psalms' speakers, thereby expanding the Psalter's "house of voices," and enriching it with still other levels of meaning, in a way, however, that does not negate or seek to supersede Jewish readings of the psalms.—C.T.B. 1743. [Psalms] Larry W. Hurtado, "Early Christological Interpretation of the Messianic Psalms," Salm 64 (2017) 73-100. The use of the Psalms in the NT reflects developments in the Second Temple Jewish tradition within which the early Jesus movement arose. These developments involved, e.g., the recognition of the Psalms as Scripture, the "Davidization" of a "book" of Psalms, and the view of David as endowed with prophetic inspiration, thus making the Psalms predictive of divine mysteries. At the same time, comparison of the use of particular psalms in the NT with their use in other Second Temple Jewish writings reveals a distinctive pattern and interpretation in the former that must reflect the novel experiences and convictions of the early Jesus movement. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 573] 1744. [Psalms] John Olley, "Psalms: A Songbook for Post-Christendom," Colloq 47 (2015) 62-74. This article contends that interpreting the Psalter as a "post-David-dom," intentionally arranged collection, with continuing relevance for Jews, has particular relevance also for Christian life and worship today in settings that can broadly be described as "post-Christendom," as well as in countries which never had strong Christian influence and where Christians have never known political power and prestige. In writing for an interdisciplinary readership, I review various features of the Book of Psalms in its present canonical form that spoke to the postexilic situation of Jews, offering them transforming and sustaining perspectives that enabled them to look forward in faithful hope, beyond the end of "David-dom." The ordered totality of the book gave enhanced meaning to its individual psalms: cries, arising from the conflicts and injustices of everyday life where God seemed inactive, are placed alongside praises that run counter to the all-pervading ideology of the dominant empire of the day. These are affirmations of hope because God is King over all nations and the time will come when this will be recognized by all people. On this basis, I then proceed to offer proposals for the relevance of this understanding of the Psalter for Christians today, based in...

Dante and Islam. Edited by Jan M. Ziolkowski. New York: Fordham University Press, 2015. Pp. viii+372.

<i>Dante and Islam</i>. Edited by Jan M. Ziolkowski. New York: Fordham University Press, 2015. Pp. viii+372.

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. and Sue A. Rozeboom, Discerning the Spirits: A Guide to Thinking about Christian Worship Today

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. and Sue A. Rozeboom, Discerning the Spirits: A Guide to Thinking about Christian Worship Today

Le caodaïsme et ses réseaux mondiaux : une analyse ethnologique d’un mouvement religieux vietnamien au Viêt Nam et à l’étranger

Born in the 1920’s in Cochinchina, Caodaism is a religious movement that has had important political repercussions in southern Vietnam, and suffered suspicion and censure from different governments throughout the 20th century. Today, overseas Caodai communities present a space for ideological projections and for political action. Between two and four million Caodaists worship today in Vietnam, compared to 13,000-15,000 overseas. Contrary to expectation, the international framework of these overseas Caodaist networks has still not been studied. Such an “absence” contrasts with the numerous case studies carried out in countries who have welcomed exiled Southeast Asian populations. Spreading its influence to Western countries, the association Cao Dai Overseas Missionary federates the most important number of overseas followers. It has developed an original strategy for negotiating its place in contemporary society, in particular in evolving relationship between the Vietnamese government, the sacred center or “Holy See” of Caodaism (in Tây Ninh province) and its different establishments overseas. My anthropological approach describes how this missionary organization has developed a dynamic position both in Vietnam and overseas by choosing a consensual approach with the local authorities.

Die bron van lewensvreugde volgens Psalm 1 en wat dit vir gereformeerde prediking inhou

The source of joy of living according to Psalm 1 and what it implies for reformed preaching The article explores the strong emphasis on joy of living and on the dominating meaning of the Torah, the written Word of God, in Psalm 1 and what it means for the proclamation of the Word in public worship today. For that purpose the relation of Psalm 1 to the rest of the psalms, to the Old Testament as a whole and the New Testament is explored. The finding is that the fulfilment of the New Testament implies Word-driven, Christ-driven and Holy Spirit-driven preaching, i.e. kingdom and covenant preach- ing. Public worship is God’s meeting with his covenant people. The preacher’s role is fully one of service and he must confine himself to the interpretation and application of Scripture.

Music Wars: A New Conflict?

What should congregations sing in worship today? Should it be the texts of Martin Luther, John Stennett, Isaac Watts, or Fanny Crosby? Or those of John Bell, Matt Redman, Darlene Zschech, or Marty ...

Common scale features of the recent Greek and Serbian church chant traditions

Common scale features of the recent Greek and Serbian church chant traditions

Worship Today: Understanding, Practice, Ecumenical Implications – Edited by Thomas F. Best and Dagmar Heller

Worship Today: Understanding, Practice, Ecumenical Implications – Edited by Thomas F. Best and Dagmar Heller

SHORT NOTICES

SHORT NOTICES

Book Review: Modern Worship; Discerning the Spirits: A guide to thinking about Christian Worship Today

Book Review: Modern Worship; Discerning the Spirits: A guide to thinking about Christian Worship Today

At the Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion

This volume makes a valuable contribution to the debate about the origins and development of Christianity. Larry Hurtado argues that understanding the nature of Christianity in the first century requires taking full account of the first Christians' devotional practices because worship was the context in which christological titles and other expressions of faith were given their specific meaning--a fact that has largely been ignored. Hurtado focuses on two distinguishing characteristics of earliest Christian worship: its exclusivity (rejecting the worship of other deities) and its binitarian shape (the veneration of Christ alongside God the Father). Setting early Christianity within the religious environment of the Roman era, Hurtado describes the features of Christianity that attracted followers and led them to renounce other religions. He then turns his attention to a more detailed discussion of the place of Christ in the monotheistic worship of the earliest Christians, showing that Christ figured in their public and corporate devotional life at a surprisingly early stage. The book concludes with some reflections for Christian worship today based on the historical features of early Christian devotional practices. Clear, illuminating, and relevant to the modern church, this volume will be of interest to scholars, pastors, students, and general readers seeking insight into the origins of Christian faith and practice.

Den liturgiske eksegese og Grundtvig

Grundtvig and Liturgical ExegesisBy Christian ThodbergLiturgical exegesis is defined as the way in which the Church re-actualised the words and deeds of Jesus in the service of worship in trying to answer the need of the congregation for being simultaneous with the biblical events. In the Western Church this liturgical exegesis received an emphatic exposition in connection with the old series of pericopes in the roman mass and in most of protestant churches as well.Many modem preachers do not like the old lectionary because it is crammed with the stories of Jesus’ miracles which - as they say - have no relevance to churchgoers of today. Grundtvig, however, always met those stories with pleasure, because in his opinion, they dealt with Jesus’ strong deeds in the worship today in baptism and communion. And essentially the biblical readings are worked out on the Sundays before and after the old baptismal terms, either at Easter time, or on the sixth of January, or at Whitsun. Thus baptism is defined in three ways by the three old baptismal terms: on January sixth as a birth with Christ, at Easter as death and resurrection with Christ and at Pentecost as the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit.The Western system of gospel readings in general survived the Reformation, but in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the account of Christ’s acts of power came under critical scrutiny. They were understood as magical elements, which obscured the character of the bible as the teaching of Christianity. Parallel with this, in the context of the liturgy, the renunciation and the naming of the Devil and the word Hell was removed from the Apostles’ Creed in the baptismal rite and the Annunciation, the Resurrection and the Ascension were understood as images.As an old-fashioned believer, Grundtvig protested against all this. Christianity depended on Christ’s works of power. But despite his faith that the bible was literally God’s word, his problem was this: When and how did God’s word and Christ’s deeds of power touch him personally? Theologically, the question about the presence of God was a problem for Grundtvig throughout his life. In simple terms: Where does God speak to mel Grundtvig’s problem was solved by his famous »unparalleled discovery«, which became the hermeneutic key to his sermons. The thesis of liturgical history scholarship is that liturgical exegesis has its place already in the New Testament, and that the secondary epistles of St. Paul in connection (Ephesians, Colossians) can be rehabilitated, since they give us the key to the understanding of Jesus’ miracles in relations to baptism. In the end it points to Grundtvig’s persistent attempt to find the place where God speaks to him, where he intuitively rediscovers the early church’s understanding of the connection between Jesus’ works of power and baptism, and which thus becomes a contemporary challenge to New Testament scholarship and preaching today.

The Vitality of Worship: A Commentary on the Book of Psalms (review)

Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 329 Reviews lical passage, a happenstance that may point to ambiguity in the text (or the inherent subjectivity of the reading process). That is, faced with ambiguity in the text, most interpreters not of the post-modem variety tend to resolve the ambiguities into coherent patterns. One suspects that this practice is guided by practical considerations. Texts as aesthetic objects or subversive agents provocateurs may be seen as systematically ambiguous. But if, to use Wittgenstein's phrase, the text is to do some work-guide a community's life or reveal some aspect of God-it must be appropriately determinate. This review has concentrated on the theoretical underpinnings of Professor Ben Zvi's interpretive program, which I fmd questionable but which certainly deserve serious discussion. Many other aspects of the book merit unreserved praise. Ben Zvi's erudition and precision of description, as earlier mentioned, are of a very high order. Perhaps because I share much of the intellectual history which informs Ben Zvi's interpretation, I often found myself delighted by his depiction of a particular literary feature or his evaluation of the significance of a structural element. Ben Zvi offers us immensely stimulating, deeply modem interpretations of the book of Obadiah, and a dubitable hypothesis about the nature of the first readers of the book. Robert B. Robinson Lutheran Theological Seminary Philadelphia. PA 19119 rrobinson@ltsp.edu THE VITALITY OF WORSHIP: A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. By Robert Davidson. pp. ix + 484. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998. Paper, $32.00. This commentary by Robert Davidson, professor emeritus of Old Testament at the University of Glasgow, is a theologically-sensitive reading of the Psalms that grows self-consciously out of concern for the use of the Psalter in the community of faith. The title, The Vitality of Worship is intended to disclose the dual emphasis of the work on "the place the Psalms had in the worship of ancient Israel, and in the place they can and ought to have in our understanding of worship today" (p. ix). A caveat may be needed here, however: the reader should not look to the commentary for an extended thesis on how the Psalms should impact contemporary worship. Rather, Davidson merely notes clearly and consistently how certain psalms provide the liturgy and lyrics of that worship. The author's Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 330 Reviews orientation is primarily Christian, but he is aware of the import of the Psalter for the synagogue (see pp. 1, 19, 307,404 for example) and his comments may be useful for that context as well. Davidson begins with a brief, seven-page introduction. He discusses first the history of interpreting the Psalms, focusing primarily on the results of form criticism. Then, in a section entitled, "The Poetry of Worship:' he argues that since the Psalms were loosed from their contexts in ancient Israelite worship (as seen in some psalm titles that situate psalms in an event in David's life) and continue to be re-read in various worship settings today, they cannot be understood fully by studying their original historical or social settings. Rather, the exegete must pay attention to the language of a psalm and the history of its use to appreciate its theological richness. Davidson then completes the introduction with some cursory comments on the structure of the book as a whole. This prolegomena section is lucid and perhaps adequate for some readers. However, others will identify two omissions: (1) first, since Davidson acknowledges limitations in the formcritical approach the reader would be well-served by information on how psalms scholarship has supplemented this method in the past twenty-five years with major studies of the stylistic features of Hebrew poetry (as in the work of James Kugel and Robert Alter) and the shape of the Psalms as a book; (2) second, Davidson could have assisted readers by describing the poetic devices encountered in the Psalter. When in the discussion of Psalm 1 Davidson notes, "Some of the characteristic features of Hebrew poetry are well illustrated in this psalm" (p. 10), it would help to have stated earlier what those features are. This is particularly the case...