Tag Archives: charismaticism

Strange Lyre: Conclusion

Strange Lyre: Conclusion

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

A good theologian once drew me a diagram of the progress of Christian doctrine and Christian history from the apostles to our day. He drew a rather jagged line, with offshoots and branches coming off it. He explained, “The line from the apostles to us today is not a straight one. It includes many errors,… Continue Reading

Strange Lyre: Nothing But Feelings

Strange Lyre: Nothing But Feelings

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Pentecostal worship places great emphasis on intensity. By intensity, they mean a strongly felt experience of emotion, intimacy, joy, wonder, or happiness. Indeed, this is a close cousin of the ecstasy in ecstatic utterances. The experience sought is one where active seeking gives way to a passive experience of overwhelming pleasure or emotion. Critically examining… Continue Reading

Pentecostal “Praise and Worship”: A Radical Departure from Historic Worship

Pentecostal “Praise and Worship”: A Radical Departure from Historic Worship

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Christian worship has often had a remarkably similar shape across traditions. Bryan Chapell showed in his work Christ-Centered Worship that corporate worship (sans communion) in Roman, Lutheran, Reformed and Evangelical traditions had a very similar form: a Call to worship, a Kyrie or Confession, followed by Thanksgiving, an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading,… Continue Reading

Early Beginnings of Pentecostal Worship

Early Beginnings of Pentecostal Worship

This entry is part 2 of 7 in the series Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

An easy error for a historian to commit is to equate or link events or movements in history that are similar, while ignoring or underplaying their differences. One example of this is when historians of worship note that modern negative reactions to contemporary pop-rock worship contain similar objections to ones levelled against the hymns of… Continue Reading

A Visit to Winners Chapel

A Visit to Winners Chapel

Jeff Straub I recently read an essay in which the author described the scene at a San Salvador Pentecostal church: “Within two minutes it is holy bedlam—high-energy guitar music, electronic-generated images on two big screens, girls waving flags, hands raised, people dancing in the aisles, crying and singing so loud the windows vibrate.” Such a… Continue Reading

Another Beautiful Journey, Another Wrong Destination

Another Beautiful Journey, Another Wrong Destination

Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts by Harold M. Best. 2003, InterVarsity Press. I had just finished my review of Best’s first book, Music through the Eyes of Faith, when I decided to go ahead and pick up his next book. Unceasing Worship is a logical continuation of his work, expanding it into the area of worship.… Continue Reading

Charismatic worship?

Charismatic worship?

In the most recent issue of In the Nick of Time, Kevin Bauder warns against the dangers of even the recent, more mild forms of charismaticism. He points out that such beliefs affect a number of important doctrinal and practical matters. One of those areas is worship. In fact, I would suggest that it is in… Continue Reading

A Well-Known Calvinist Repudiates the Charismaticism and Worldly Worship of "New Calvinism."

A Well-Known Calvinist Repudiates the Charismaticism and Worldly Worship of "New Calvinism."

“The new Calvinists constantly extol the Puritans, but they do not want to worship or live as they did. One of the vaunted new conferences is called Resolved, after Jonathan Edwards’ famous youthful Resolutions (seventy searching undertakings). But the culture of this conference would unquestionably have met with the outright condemnation of that great theologian.”… Continue Reading

Worship That Cannot Be Touched – Hebrews 12:18-29

Worship That Cannot Be Touched – Hebrews 12:18-29

At the end of Hebrews 12 we find a very instructive passage that describes New Testament worship. But in order to understand the point of this passage, we need to first understand the broader context in which it is found. The purpose of the book of Hebrews is to warn Jewish Christians against leaving Christianity… Continue Reading