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We are not created to worship. Nor are we created for worship. We are created worshiping.
Too often Christians have only thought of worship in terms of particular musical styles or liturgical formats. But a proper view of worship is far larger than what takes place in churches on Sunday mornings. Worship is not limited to specific times, places or activities.
God is by his very nature continuously outpouring himself. Because we are created in his image, we too are continually pouring ourselves in various directions, whether toward God or toward false gods. All of us, Christian or not, are always worshiping, whether or not that worship is directed toward God. We are unceasing worshipers.
The fruition of a lifetime of study, reflection and experience, this volume sets forth Harold M. Best's understanding of worship and the arts. Widely respected as one of the foremost thinkers and practitioners in his field, Best explores the full scope of worship as continuous outpouring in all settings and contexts. With careful exposition and eloquent analysis, Best casts a holistic vision for worship that transcends narrow discussions of musical style or congregational preference. On this broader canvas, Best addresses popular misunderstandings about the use of music and offers correctives toward a more biblically consistent practice of artistic action.
Incisive, biblical, profound and comprehensive, Best's landmark volume is one by which all other statements on worship and the arts will be measured.
Table of Content
Introduction
Part 1: Unceasing Worship as Continuous Outpouring
1. Nobody Does Not Worship
2. What Is Authentic Worship?
3. Mutual Indwelling: The Final Geography of Worship
4. The Corporate Gathering and Authentic Worship
5. Worship and Witness: The Indivisible Task of Continuous Outpouring
6. Worship, Praying and Preaching
Part 2: Unceasing Worship and the Arts
7. Continuous Outpouring and Artistic Action
8. What Creative People Can Learn from God’s Creation
9. The Peculiarity of Music and Its Unique Role
10. The Arts in Contrast: Allowing Art to Be Art
11. ‘You Shall Not Worship Me This Way’: Worship, Art and Incipient Idolatry
12. The Cultural Expanse, Part 1: Realities and Unities
13. The Cultural Expanse, Part 2: Issues
14. What of Quality?
Epilogue
Notes
About the author
Best (D.S.M., Union Theological Seminary) was for more than twenty-five years the dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. An organist and composer, he has been a mentor and model for musicians, artists and church leaders. He also has served as president of the National Association of Schools of Music and has written extensively on matters of curriculum, culture and educational policy issues. He is the author of Music Through the Eyes of Faith.
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