Essays: Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows into Christian Practice

Joyce Borger

John D. Witvliet. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003. 320 pp. $26.99. ISBN 0801026237. www.bakerbooks.com

This final collection of essays is by a single author, John D. Witvliet. Witvliet has organized these essays, many previously published but here presented in revised form, into five broad categories: biblical, theological, historical, musical, and pastoral studies. The breadth of disciplines covered is a testimony to Witvliet’s own interdisciplinary scholarship and commitment to worship discussions that bring the historian, theologian, and practitioner to the same table. As a result, these essays are grounded in careful scholarship. They are insightful, pastoral, and accessible to a wide audience.

Two other slightly older books have been recently rereleased and are worth rereading; both were reviewed in RW in their original editions: Worship: Reformed According to Scripture by Hughes Oliphant Old (RW 66, p. 46) and David Peterson’s Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (RW 33, p. 46).

Rev. Joyce Borger is a program manager at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship for the area of practical worship planning and leading, which includes co-managing ReformedWorship.org, as well as serving as a content editor and resource creator for the website. Joyce is keen to listen to the questions being asked by churches and then identify, learn from, and amplify wise and gifted voices who can speak to them, as well as create platforms for gifts and learning to be shared. She has worked in the area of worship for over 20 years and has served as editor of several musical collections, including Psalms for All Seasons, and Lift Up Your Hearts: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2011, 2013). She has taught worship courses at Kuyper College and is an ordained minister.