Journal: Journal of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies
Volume: JIRBS 01:1 (NA 2013)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JIRBS 1 (2014) p. 177

Book Reviews

A Better Way:
Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship,
Michael S. Horton,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002, 249 pages),
reviewed by Douglas VanderMeulen

Amid the seemingly endless books on the so-called worship wars, Michael Horton’s A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-centered Worship is a refreshing tonic. A common assumption in many books on worship is that style is neutral and that the culture or preference of the congregation can be the deciding factor in choosing the forms of worship. Conversely, Horton looks for the substance of worship in God’s acts and words in redemptive history. For Horton, neither the culture nor the preference of the worshiper is sovereign. Rather, it is God’s self-revelation in His “energies,” or work, of creation and in creation that is sovereign over worship. It is here that Horton finds the substance for the weekly worship service.

Dr. Horton develops a theological grid for understanding the weekly worship service as a genuine event of redemptive history. The dramatic events of biblical history are not religious symbols of eternal truths. Rather, they are God’s real actions of covenantal involvement in creation. As Dorothy Sayers writes, quoted by Horton, “The dogma is the drama” (10).

The first of several doctrines that Horton develops is redemptive history as “drama or theater.” He suggests the best way to read the Bible is to follow the dramatic storyline of God in history. These past actions are His self-revelation to His people which leads them to meaningful doxology and discipleship. Horton’s goal for the book “...is to recover the sense of redemptive drama that we not only see illustrated in Scripture but that the Word and Spirit actually bring into our communal gathering” (13–14).

JIRBS 1 (2014) p. 178

According to Horton, the motif of redemptive history as drama or God’s theater has a long career in theology. He cites comments in Calvin on the Psalms, such as, “The church is a distinguished theatre on which the divine glory is displayed” and “The state or kingdom of the Church constitutes the principal and august theatre where God presents and displays the tokens of his wonderful power, wisdom, and righteousness” (243).

What is true of God in history is no less true in the worship service. Horton writes:

The gospel having been eclipsed by humanly devised doctrines and practices, the Reformers knew that the power was in the preaching of the gospel - not only in the sermon but in the entire service. The service, they recognized, was not primarily about human action but centered on divine action. God was not only central as an obj...