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Changed from Glory into Glory: The Liturgical Story of the Christian Faith | Scott Aniol

$24.99

Through tracing the liturgical history of the Christian faith from its foundation in Old Testament
Israel through the early church, middle ages, Reformation, to the present, this book demonstrates
that liturgy forms religion and religion forms liturgy.

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Through tracing the liturgical history of the Christian faith from its foundation in Old Testament
Israel through the early church, middle ages, Reformation, to the present, this book demonstrates
that liturgy forms religion and religion forms liturgy.

One of the best ways to truly understand what lies at the core of the Christian faith is by studying
its worship, for corporate worship does something far more significant than many Christians
recognize—public worship both reveals belief and forms belief. How a community
worships—its content, its liturgy, and its forms of expression—reveals the underlying religious
commitments of those who plan and lead the worship. Conversely, corporate worship forms the
beliefs of the worshipers. Public worship is not simply about authentic expression of the
worshipers; rather, how a church worships week after week progressively shapes their beliefs
since those worship practices were cultivated by and embody certain beliefs.

This is why it is so important for church leaders, and indeed all Christians, to carefully identify
what kinds of beliefs have shaped their various worship practices so that they will choose to
worship in ways that best form their minds and hearts consistent with their theological
convictions. That is the goal of this book: studying worship in the Old and New Testaments will
reveal how God deliberately prescribed worship that would form his people as he desires, and
tracing the evolution of Christian worship from after the close of the New Testament to the
present day will help elucidate how theological beliefs affected the worship practices Christians
have inherited.

 

Endorsements for Changed from Glory into Glory: The Liturgical Story of the Christian Faith by Scott Aniol:

Scott Aniol’s Changed from Glory into Glory is an excellent guide to the history and practice of worship in the Old Testament and the Christian church from the New Testament to the present. Though writing from the perspective of an evangelical, his even-handed approach points out the positive features of each era and worship form, as well as areas in which they might have gone astray. He makes the strong case, supported through biblical and historical study, that how we worship both reveals and forms our faith. I learned a lot from it—and you will too. This is a fine resource for church leader and layperson alike, and it deserves careful and prayerful reading.

David W. Music
Professor of Church Music
Baylor University

 

The reasons that I am enthusiastic about this book are many, but I will condense them to these five. One, It gives a narrative and doctrinal interaction with the history of Christian worship from Adam to the present. Two, it shows the revealed manner of worship from Genesis to Revelation isolating the principles that govern God’s message of how he is to be approached. Three, it shows how these principles were implemented and followed in large part throughout the history of the church while indicating how culture and populism began to reshape the cultus and even pollute this biblical pattern. Four, the author unashamedly, and in harmony with the necessity of Christian witness and conviction, encourages sound biblical thinking about the preeminent element of human life, worship. Five, he sets forth a specific manner of ordering worship that he believes is in accord with biblical principles and the best elements of liturgical development in the church—Gospel-shaped worship. This book is a work of Christian scholarship, thoroughly engaging to the mind, challenging to the heart, and is aimed at edification in a way equivalent to its information.

Tom J. Nettles
Senior Professor of Historical Theology
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

 

In this book, Scott Aniol leads us on a fascinating, guided tour of worship from ancient Israel to the contemporary church. Though written from a Baptist perspective, this book carefully examines a vast variety of approaches to liturgy through the ages. Aniol has provided a very helpful resource for both students of the history of worship and those charged to lead worship today.”

Joel R. Beeke
President
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

 

Like many of the deepest realities of Christianity, worship itself involves a both/and proposition. As Scott Aniol helpfully points out in Changed from Glory into Glory, what happens when Christians gather to adore God both expresses what they believe as well as forms that belief. With a bold historical trajectory that stretches from the Bible to today, Aniol explores that critical two-fold dynamic for Christians past and present.

Lester Ruth
Research Professor of Christian Worship
Duke Divinity School

 

Anybody who wants to live responsibly should understand the symbiotic relationship between worldview and worship, which shapes us all. Actually, understanding it should be obligatory for Christian leaders, and I know of no better guide than this book. It’s a brief but comprehensive survey of how Christians have answered the second most important question in our lives: what are we saved for? Here you will encounter voices from the past, yet the argument looks forward, and the prose is clear. There’s something for every curious reader.

Paul Munson
Professor of Music
Grove City College

 

Scott Aniol is absolutely correct that worship practices shape our lives, our beliefs, and our history far more than we often realize. Therefore, if we want to disciple ourselves and others, we need to pay careful attention to and give significant thought to our worship practices. However, we have tended to be uninformed of how the church across the ages has thought and worked in terms of worship, leaving us captive to the whims of our current settings. Aniol has done us a great service in this book by giving us a thorough history of the church in terms of worship, which can help us think along with the church across the ages about how we can faithfully worship the Lord and cultivate godliness. This is a rich treasure, and I warmly commend it to all.

Ray Van Neste
Dean, School of Theology & Missions
Union University

 

The worship of God is a field that demands careful biblical study, thoughtful historical appraisal, and pastoral care. Aniol writes with a clear commitment to honor the Lord in truth, affection, and obedience. This work instructs us to consider liturgical studies in order that our worship practices might please the Lord, edify the church in our mission of making disciples, and faithfully proclaim the completed work of Christ.

Matt Boswell
Hymnwriter
Assistant Professor of Church Music and Worship
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

 

Changed from Glory into Glory: The Liturgical Story of the Christian Faith is a book I’ve been hoping someone would write for a long time, and I can’t think of a more qualified person to write it than Scott Aniol. He masterfully synthesizes historical, cultural, theological, and biblical tributaries that converge in the ocean of Christian worship – an ocean that ultimately shapes and forms the devotional lives of every believer. The accessible and engagingly written content in Dr. Aniol’s book fits beautifully in the minds and hearts of students in a seminary classroom, a church Bible study, or the lay person simply wanting to explore the liturgical history of the Christian faith and how worship has formed our religion and how our religion has formed our worship. I have already used several portions of this book as significant resource material for the class I teach on the theology of worship, and it will be required reading for my future classes on this subject. Both the church and the academy have been given a wonderful gift in Changed from Glory into Glory.

Joseph R. Crider
Dean, School of Church Music and Worship
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

 

“In my twenty years of teaching worship, I have never seen a book that so skillfully narrates the history of Christian worship in the context of pastoral and broadly Reformed commitments. This book will be eminently useful in introductory worship courses as well as courses in the history or theology of worship. Lay and scholarly readers across denominational lines—and regardless of their approach to the practice of Christian worship—will benefit greatly from this volume, which effectively weds careful historical synthesis with practical liturgical awareness and concern. I highly recommend it.”

Matthew Pinson
President
Welch College

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Weight 1.27 lbs
Dimensions 9.61 × 6.69 × .75 in

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