Presbyterian Worship in America: Including Essay 'Presbyterian Worship in Twentieth Century America'

Presbyterian Worship in America is the first fully documented historical survey of its theme in the United States. Its value is to be found in a combination of broad painting of the major trends with delightfully detailed vignettes of city and country congregations at worship. Horton Davies Melton exposes the tension between freedom and order which has always existed among American Presbyterians.... This concise, well-researched and well-written book will be valuable for students of American religious history as well as for pastors and laymen responsible for guiding the worship of their congregations. James H. Smylie Dr. Melton...surveys discussions of [worship] in the church press and in books, arranged loosely according to New School evangelism and Old School formalism. Particularly valuable are the sketches of such colorful individuals as Charles Baird, Charles Shields, Levi Ward, Benjamin Comegys, and Henry van Dyke. James H. Nichols