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Book Review
DISCERNING THE SPIRITS
A guide to thinking about Christian worship today
Cornelius Plantinga Jr & Sue A.
Rozeboom Wm. B. Eerdmans Publising Co. 170 p 2003
Review by R. Hoekzema
“Discerning the spirits” is often quoted loosely. A spirit of personal
ambition, for example, can look like holy zeal. So we need the gift of
the Holy Spirit to discern spirits, especially when it comes to
“Contemporary Worship” that some praise as revival and others condemn as
apostasy. One of the book’s chapters gives an overview of a
mind-boggling spectrum of worship styles in America but which will be
equally reflected elsewhere in the world. The worship battles still rage
but which battles are worth fighting and which issues are significant?
It is time to try to move the discussion forward say the authors. They
reason that troubled churches can’t pursue their mission in the world
very well. The main aim of this book – to set a context and tone in
which healthy decisions about worship may be conducted. The authors
offer help in making discerning choices.
Contemporary Worship is seen as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that
evolved already in the 1940’s. The authors state that the diversity in
worship that exists knows no bounds and targets particular audiences
defined by status of faith, age group, cultural background or a
combination of the three. The question they raise, how do we embody or
inculturate our worship of God in cultural forms that will reach our
neighbours but will not distort the gospel? Cultural adaptation of
worship is inevitable, desirable, and risky they say. What’s
controversial about Contemporary Worship is that in its attempt to be
relevant to contemporary culture, Contemporary Worship employs cultural
forms that might clash with the gospel, with a reverent attitude to God
or with a respectful approach to God’s people. What’s at stake? Peace of
mind, the image of God, the Church’s very mission, as Jesus prays that
all of them may be one.
Many books have been written on this subject but I agree with one critic
that the scope and balance of Discerning the Spirits put it at the top
of the list. It is hugely relevant, the authors being so practical, so
cultural, and yet so biblical in their approach to worship.
It’s a meld of the many resources and what members of the study team
have contributed.
You’ll love and learn from their in-depth attempts to define “worship”
and “culture”.
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