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Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transition
By James F. White
Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989. 251 pp. $15.95.

The author is Professor of Liturgics in the graduate program of that discipline at Notre Dame University and a Methodist, already widely known for a series of thoughtful books on Christian worship, recent developments in Protestant worship, and on the relationship of worship to architecture. One might, therefore, have reasonably expected that the volume under review would either stress the growing unity between Catholic and Protestant worship since Vatican II, or make the counter assertion of the distinctiveness of Protestant worship. White has chosen the latter alternative.

He offers us a remarkably rich account of the nine traditions he finds in his analysis of Protestant worship in Western Europe and North America during the past four hundred years. These traditions are: Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican, Separatist and Puritan, Methodist, Quaker, Frontier, and Pentecostal. A chapter is devoted to each, indicating its origins, developments, and present status. There is an important introductory chapter describing the six categories of worship, all experiential, in which he will view Protestant worship. These are: people, piety, time, place, prayer, preaching, and music. He points out that the customary Catholic liturgical analysis in terms of texts and rubrics and sacraments is inappropriate for Protestant worship and

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makes out his case strongly, although he underestimates the importance of sacraments for Protestants in the process. There is an early chapter on "Late Medieval Worship and Roman Catholic Worship," followed by chapters on the nine traditions, with a conclusion on "The Future of Protestant Worship," a useful brief bibliography, and two indices.

It is an excellent introduction to the variety and vicissitudes of Protestant/Worship. While probably too condensed in its information and too sophisticated in its evaluations for the beginning seminarian, the book will be useful and admirable for seminary teachers, graduate students, and thoughtful clergy. Moreover, it will make Protestants proud to have been in the vanguard of liturgical change, while guarding them against some of the weaknesses introduced by the rationalism of the Enlightenment.

The strengths of this book are many. They include a highly original approach and a remarkable breadth and sensitivity of vision. The citations indicate wide reading and vividness of recall, an appreciation of the visual and architectural uncommon in a Protestant author, the consistent translation of technical liturgical terms into intelligible common English, and an acute awareness of the secular historical impact of change upon worship patterns. His greatest gift is the ability to carry the reader along with him by his own passionate interest in the subject and a clarity of style.

There are, however, some spots on the sun in this important book. His irony is occasionally delightful as when, in referring to Quaker women missionaries, he adds: "… some witnessing to the Sultan of Turkey, who offered them a place in his harem, and others to the Pope, who was less hospitable." He is, however, insensitive in referring to the Anglican Prayer of Humble Access with Cranmer's acknowledgment that "We be not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table" as having only "this canine reference."

Other criticisms can also be made of emphasis rather than of style. Baptists would surely rather be termed by their present designation than by the nomenclature of their origin. The Congregationalists would also complain that they should not be lumped with the English Presbyterians of the seventeenth century as defecting to Unitarianism. The majority remained Trinitarian due to the combined impact of the hymns of Isaac Watts and the strong conservatism of local less opulent congregations. Also, in his reading of the theology and personality of Calvin, White seems unaware of the recent research stressing the humanity of the great Reformer of Geneva. Nor can Cranmer, I believe, be fairly accused of merely expanding the terseness of the Latin collects into English. In addition, his inclusion of the Plymouth Brethren in a single paragraph hardly seems worthwhile, although treatment of the influence of the Shakers in almost five pages is appropriate. I also think it was unwise to give the Separatists much attention in a chapter combining both Separatists and Puritans when the latter were eager to be dissociated

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from the former and the latter had such an important impact on both sides of the Atlantic in the development of free prayer, exegetical preaching, and hymnody, as well as substituting covenants for creeds (the latter not mentioned by White),

Finally, it is good to see the evidence of a profoundly ecumenical spirit even when celebrating Protestantism and an empathy that includes a record of the lively cooperative worship of the black churches and of the revivalists on the Frontier.

Horton Davies
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey