This book comes as part of a series which presents an issue relating to the faith and practice of Christianity, from a particular point of view, mainly taking wisdom of the past and translating the insights into the present and future of the church.

By examining the worship practices of the Old Testament Israel and the early church, Webber discovers ancient practice and values that he translates in to the modern time which will help us to refresh and revive our worship, for now and the future. This will help with the crisis in the worship practices of today. Webber believes the problems is beyond the matters of style, but is of content and form. Worship can be, more often than not, self-involved, busy and dry, and can be attributed to the loss of vision of God and God’s narrative in History.

In this book, Webber starts with historical models and patristic church studies and examines how early Christian worship can be applied to the postmodern church.

Contents:

Forward: Bob Webber: Memory and Hope
Acknowledgements
Introduction to the Ancient-Future Series
Introduction: A Personal Note

Part 1 Rediscovering God’s Story in Worship

1.Worship Does God’s Story
2.Worship Remembers the Past
3.Worship Anticipates the Future
4.How the Fullness of God’s Story Became Lost

Part 2 Applying God’s Story to Worship

5.Worship: Transformed by Remembrance and Anticipation
6.Word: Transformation by the Narrative Nature of Scripture
7.Eucharist: Transformed by the Presence of God at Table
8.Prayer: Transformed by Recovering the Style of Ancient Worship

Conclusion: My Journey toward an Ancient-Future Worship
Appendix: A call to an Ancient Evangelical Future
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Robert E. Webber (1933-2007) was, at the time of his death, Myers Professor of Ministry at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois.