What Is “Biblical” Worship? Biblical Hermeneutics And Evangelical Theologies Of Worship -- By: Michael A. Farley
Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 51:3 (Sep 2008)
Article: What Is “Biblical” Worship? Biblical Hermeneutics And Evangelical Theologies Of Worship
Author: Michael A. Farley
JETS 51:3 (September 2008) p. 591
What Is “Biblical” Worship?
Biblical Hermeneutics And Evangelical Theologies Of Worship
* Michael Farley is adjunct professor of theological studies at St. Louis University, 221 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63103–2097.
Evangelical worship must be biblical worship. Because God’s revelation is the ultimate guide and norm for true Christian worship, evangelical Christians should care about properly understanding what God has revealed in his word on this subject. However, evangelicals have a hard time agreeing just what “biblical worship” is.1 Many disputes about worship practices occur in part because there is no shared hermeneutical and theological framework for developing a biblical theology of worship.2 The hermeneutical diversity that exists goes deeper than mere disagreements over the interpretation and application of specific texts. There is also a substantial lack of agreement about which biblical texts are relevant and applicable to Christian worship at all.
Thus, the first step toward advancing evangelical discussions about a biblical theology of worship is a greater hermeneutical self-consciousness. Where do we turn in Scripture to find norms to guide the practice of Christian worship? What kinds of biblical texts are appropriate sources for deriving a
JETS 51:3 (September 2008) p. 592
Christian theology of worship? How do we make sense of the diversity of worship practices found throughout redemptive history, and how do we draw upon the full scope of biblical teaching about worship to develop a coherent and fully biblical theology that can guide Christian practice today?
My primary goal in this paper is to clarify some of the hermeneutical confusion by making evangelicals more aware of several distinct approaches to a biblical theology of worship that currently exist in the evangelical world. In my recently completed doctoral dissertation, I have examined theologies of worship in the English, Scottish, and American Presbyterian traditions, and in those traditions I have discerned three distinct approaches to biblical hermeneutics in modern liturgical theology.3 I will describe those three hermeneutical models and provide examples not only from works by Presbyterians but also from works by other contemporary evangelical scholars as well.
In the order that I will present them, each successive hermeneutical model builds upon the ones that precede it. The second and third models incorporate most of the texts and practices commended by the first, an...
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