worship "apologetics"

[r***@yahoo.com]

Hello,

I am going to be doing a class on varying viewpoints in worship. For
lack of a better term, I am calling it worship apologetics, since it
consists of considering biblical or whatever support people may have
for thier views.

Several areas I am aware of are:
Musical Instruments vs. Accapella
Hymns vs. Choruses vs. Psalms only
performance/visual arts as worship
Types of music

I have found a lot of good papers on the voice only side of the
Instruments vs. accapella debate from the Reformed movement as well as
the church of christ.
Do you know of some good links supporting some of the other areas?

Or would any of you add some other worship issues that I haven't
mentioned?

Thanks in advance,


dave

----

[If you're interested in the Reformed view, rather than looking at
these things, which are basically specific examples, you probably want
to look at the "regulative principle." It says that worship isn't
something we make up for ourselves. It is something God calls us to
do. In that case, God specifies what proper worship is. That doesn't
mean that he specifies specific styles of music, but that the basic
constituents of worship should be Biblically justified. That's the
reason behind restricting music to psalms and various of the other
items. Some key questions to ask your class are:

* why do we worship?
* what are the Biblical ground rules for worship?
* while the Bible doesn't specify every detail of worship, are there
approaches to worship and styles of music that are more and less
appropriate?
* for many of us, worship is centered around God's word. As such,
preaching is a key element. What is the purpose of preaching? Are there
ways that are better and worse? E.g. some preachers pick topics that they
consider relevant and others preach from a lectionary. Why?

--clh]

[r***@yahoo.com]

Post by r***@yahoo.com
[If you're interested in the Reformed view, rather than looking at
these things, which are basically specific examples, you probably want
to look at the "regulative principle." It says that worship isn't
something we make up for ourselves. It is something God calls us to
do. In that case, God specifies what proper worship is. That doesn't
mean that he specifies specific styles of music, but that the basic
constituents of worship should be Biblically justified. That's the
reason behind restricting music to psalms and various of the other
* why do we worship?
* what are the Biblical ground rules for worship?
* while the Bible doesn't specify every detail of worship, are there
approaches to worship and styles of music that are more and less
appropriate?

Thanks to the Covenant theology love and respect for intellect, there
are plenty of online papers defining the view. I have downloaded a few,
and one fairly large paper in particular that details the reformed
position.
The reformed view differs radically from my own in its conclusions, but
not in it's basis.
We use the regulative principle as well, but have a full band, and
nearly charismatic worship, choruses, etc.

That in itself is interesting and I do plan on spending several weeks
talking about the idea of sola scriptura and the level of
interpretation that nonetheless occurs. It seems to me that even
invoking the regulative principle, there is a wide gap in conclusions.

I taught the first year class last year and already discussed the basic
ideas: definitions, key passages. A lot of the same things used to
support the regulative principle as a matter of fact.

Definitely want to look at some of the ideas about the styles, but am
trying to get to what might legitimately be called "scriptural"
reasons verses basic likes/dislikes with a thin veil of a reason
slapped on top.

Thanks,

dave

[* irenic *]

Post by r***@yahoo.com
Hello,
I am going to be doing a class on varying viewpoints in worship. For
lack of a better term, I am calling it worship apologetics, since it
consists of considering biblical or whatever support people may have
for thier views.

<>

Post by r***@yahoo.com
Or would any of you add some other worship issues that I haven't
mentioned?

Another approach: there may actually be six or seven biblical 'modes' of
worship - http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/keyword/w-23.htm