The Worship of God Some Theological Pastoral and Practical Reflections

While most Christians today value worship and regard it as a vital part of the church's life and witness, there is also a wistful yearning that contemporary worship be vastly improved and given a more satisfying rationale.

Calling his book a "compact guide to some of the main themes of the worship of God," and believing that the agenda of worship "needs a serious overhaul in our churches," well-known theologian Ralph P. Martin here reexamines the concept of worship, "recasting . . . its meaning in such a way as will express its essentially theological dimension and yet will relate its practice to the concerns, interests, and needs of men and women in our world."

To that end, then, Martin discusses several elements of worship: praise, prayer, hymns, the offering, the creeds and confessions, the sermon, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the role of the Holy Spirit. The main thrust of Martin's discussion it to consider, in the light of Scripture and history, the theological rationale for the practice of each element. A final chapter summarizes the author's definition of worship and diagrams a "service of worship" that involves all the aspects of worship he has discussed.

Both theologically adequate and pastorally helpful, the book is designed for ministers and theological students, as well as lay leaders in the churches.