Exploring the Worship Spectrum: Six Views (Counterpoints)

Rating:
Summary: Helpful and enjoyable, with weaknesses
Review: "Exploring the Worship Spectrum" lives up to its carefully chosen title. Notice that the verb used is "exploring" - rather than "debating." The editors apparently chose the contributors carefully, and instructed them carefully, to insure the essays would not be a platform for "worship wars." The writers are usually upbeat and affirming of one another.

The other carefully chosen word is "spectrum." There are not two, not three, but SIX different worship styles discussed. Each style is presented by its proponent, followed by responses from each of the five other writers. The styles are: formal-liturgical, traditional hymn-based, contemporary music-driven, charismatic, blended, and emerging.

I think the book will prove helpful to most readers. If you tend to think only in terms of traditional, contemporary, and blended worship, you will certainly have your worship categories expanded. Each essay is thought-provoking in its own way. If you are aware of your own bias before you read this book, you will hopefully find the critiques, though gentle, to be helpful. And you will hopefully be made to better appreciate why others worship differently.

One of the book's weaknesses is the lack of rich biblical discussion. It appears it was entrusted to an editor to include a biblical discussion of worship in his brief introduction. However, it would have been more helpful if each contributor offered a his/her biblical understanding of worship prior to discussing their preferred worship style. There are some exceptions to this, and there are plenty of examples of broad theological principles being employed; but I had hoped for more.

Also, the writers often try TOO hard to compliment each other. It becomes unclear sometimes exactly how their approaches differ. Maybe this is good, but I would have welcomed further (friendly) debate. I guess this relates to my previous point.

On the other hand, I was surprised at the tone of Sally Morgenthaler's essay on "emerging worship." Near the end of her chapter, she began to exhibit the very attitude the book was apparently trying to avoid: a smug, "us-vs-them" mentality. Morgenthaler seemed a bit too pleased to be on the supposed cutting edge, and displayed disdain for those in less trendy worship neighborhoods... On the bright side, her chapter is a reminder that we do NOT need another round of "worship wars," this time between the cutting edge "emerging" folks and the old school (!) "contemporary" folks.

Weaknesses aside, I had a pleasant time reading through this book and expanding my thoughts on worship styles. If you are looking for biblical reflection, the book falls short. But if you are simply looking for an introduction to worship styles, fresh insight into their strengths and weaknesses, I think you'll enjoy the book.