Sunday Worship: What's On My Bookshelves

Sunday worship is a sensitive issue. Advocates of the regulative and normative principles of worship each have a lens through which they look to subscribe to certain principles about worship. Which is right?

Years ago I began reading on the topic. Having a wide array of Sunday morning experiences, I felt obligated to know what is and is not acceptable during Sunday worship. While I now have an opinion on the matter, the books I have collected over the years present various views.

In the list below I have not included books on the sacraments, preaching, and prayer. In most worship war debates, people generally accept the aforementioned three items. These books, generally, are more concerned with the order of worship and those things that are permissible--outside of the administration of the sacraments, preaching, and prayer--during Sunday services. As always, I do not necessarily agree with everything in the books listed nor do I necessarily agree with the individual author's stance on other topics not mentioned in these books.

I am particularly interested in origins of Christian worship as it pertains to liturgy. Number 3 is the latest addition in that category. I desire to read much more on in that arena.

1. The Worship Sourcebook published by Faith Alive Christian Resources (2004)

2. Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God's Narrative by Robert Webber

3. The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy (2 ed.) by Paul Bradshaw

4. Songs of Zion: A Contemporary Case for Exclusive Psalmody by Michael Bushell

5. Worship in Spirit and Truth: A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship by John Frame

6. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship by David Peterson

7. With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship by D. G. Hart and John Muether

8. O Come, Let Us Worship: Corporate Worship in the Evangelical Church by Robert Rayburn

9. Liturgies of the Western Church: Selected and Introduced by Bard Thompson

10. The Reformation of Our Worship by Stephen Winward

11. Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children into the Joy of Worship by Robbie Castleman

12. Children in Church: Nurturing Hearts of Worship by Curt and Sandra Lovelace

13. Encountering God Together: Biblical Patterns for Ministry and Worship by David Peterson

14. Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation by James Smith

15. Worship and the Reality of God: An Evangelical Theology of Real Presence by John Jefferson Davis

16. Scripture and Worship: Biblical Interpretation and the Directory for Worship by Richard Muller and Rowland Ward

17. The Dialogue of Worship: Creating Space for Revelation and Response by Gary Furr and Milburn Price

18. Christian Worship in Reformed Churches Past and Present edited by Lukas Vischer

19. Worship: Reformed According to Scripture by Hughes Oliphant Old

20. A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship by Michael Horton

21. Leading in Worship: A Sourcebook for Presbyterian Students and Ministers Drawing Upon the Biblical and Historic Forms of the Reformed Tradition by Terry Johnson

22. The History and Use of Hymns and Hymn-Tunes by David Breed

23. The Early History of the Liturgy by J. H. Srawley

24. The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship by Jeffrey Meyers

25. The Humiliation of the Word by Jacques Ellul

26. Worship by the Book edited by D. A. Carson

27. In the Splendor of Holiness: Rediscovering the Beauty of Reformed Worship for the 21st Century by Jon Payne

28. Book of Common Worship published by Westminster John Knox Press (1993)

29. The Book of Common Prayer (1662) published by Everyman's Library 

30. Contemporary Worship Music: A Biblical Defense by John Frame

31. Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal by T. David Gordon

32. The Psalms as Christian Worship: An Historical Commentary by Bruce Waltke and James Houston