Drew University Studies in Liturgy – serie

It may seem unexpected to assert that controversy surrounds the introduction of hymns in religious life in England. Though many scholars have worked to catalog and index hymns, few have investigated the evolution of hymns, and their proposed meaning to religious celebration. A historical as well as a critical project, The Matter and Manner of Praise undermines the compulsion to assume that hymn-making and religion were always considered to coexist effortlessly. Most histories of hymnody and evangelical movements in England have elided the depth of feeling and concern that surrounded the debate over hymns and their use during liturgy. McCart uncovers, reexamines, and comments upon this debate. He illuminates a partly unexplored topic in English church history, by tracing the controversial shift from metrical psalms to hymnody, and also takes into account legal issues and litigation that developed over the introduction of hymns into church life. An insightful study that should be fascinating reading for anyone interested in teasing apart the historical nature of religious ceremonies and hymns.

Sources for 17th, 18th, and early 19th-century Eucharistic practices in the Church of Scotland are scarce, in part because each minister was free to draw up the form and content of the services he conducted. In addition, many 19th and 20th century liturgical scholars chose to dismiss this form of public worship, instead focusing on the earlier tradition of the Book of Common Order. A Communion Sunday in Scotland ca. 1780: Liturgies and Sermons addresses the dearth of these liturgical studies by presenting a modern edition of a late 18th-century published account of Communion Sunday in the Church of Scotland. Robin A. Leaver edits and annotates several sermons, prayers, and congregational songs by the Reverend John Logan (1747?-1788), together with relevant background information and comparative documents.Citing Logan's sermons, liturgies, and psalms as a representative model, Leaver demonstrates that there was a developed liturgical structure and form in the Church of Scotland, in which preaching, psalmody, and prayer expressed Calvinist/Presbyterian theology within established patterns of worship. Leaver also provides an overview of Scottish Eucharistic practices from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Appendixes offering a list of Scottish Psalm Tunes and a translation of the Palatinate Liturgy (1563) are followed by a comprehensive bibliography, making this a valuable reference.

Drawing on unpublished documents and archival materials, Quill presents a historical survey of the modern liturgical movement with a detailed analysis of its theological and practical impact on 20th-century American Lutheranism. Quill explores the Lutheran debate, which revolves around the concept of a eucharistic prayer. In his liturgical reforms, Luther rejected the eucharistic prayer as found in the canon of the mass. Quill demonstrates that it is possible to create a eucharistic prayer which complements Lutheran eucharistic theology. Since American Lutheran liturgies and hymnals will soon undergo revision, the issues addressed will contribute to the anticipated debates and appeal to pastors, church musicians, seminary students, and students of liturgy.

"Bless the Lord, O My Soul" is the first comprehensive study of the Liturgy of the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest reformation liturgy still in use today. The Reformed tradition is best known for political activism and theoretical reflection, and its liturgical practice has enjoyed only scant attention. Meeter opens with a history of Dutch Reformed worship from the Reformation to the American Revolution. Using old manuscripts, letters, and mercantile records, he develops the story of the six New York merchants who translated and published the first English version of the Liturgy in 1767. He continues with the subsequent fortunes of the New-York Liturgy through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, its adoption by other denominations in Africa, Asia, and Australia, and its translation into languages ranging from Tamil to Japanese. The centerpiece of the book is a critical edition of the New-York liturgy. Annotations connect the text with the Dutch original, with its roots in Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, and with later revisions made by the North American denominations. There follows a commentary on the Liturgy in all its versions, fully detailing the French, German, and Dutch sources of each rite, comparing them to parallel rites in other traditions, expounding on their theological content, and describing their actual use within the congregations.