Article: Freedom and Order in Worship: Paul’s Instructions in 1 Corinthians
The 2017 Edition of The Artistic Theologian has been published today and it includes an article I wrote concerning Paul’s instructions regarding the worship practices of the Corinthian church. This article emerged out of my invited paper at the 2016 annual ETS Conference.
You can read the article entitled Freedom and Order in Worship: Paul’s Instructions in 1 Corinthians by clicking the link, but I’m including a summary of the article below. Check it out!
There is no lack of discussion and controversy regarding the worship of the Christian church historically and in the present age. These arguments are cast in terms of contemporary versus traditional, urban or suburban, hymnals or screens, or evangelical or liturgical. At the heart of these struggles is the question of the balance of form and structure in the corporate worship gathering and the dynamic freedom of the Spirit of God to enliven and energize the worship of the Body of Christ. This difficulty is not foreign to the New Testament church, as seen in the letters of Paul to the Corinthians. In his first letter, the apostle Paul addresses a host of controversies and overall dysfunction within the Corinthian church and offers rebuke, correction, and edification through the continued exaltation of Christ, desire for unity in the Body of Christ, and the supremacy of the Gospel.
My purpose for this article is to examine the critical issues at play within 1 Corinthians 14 in light of current research and frame them within the context of the Free Church tradition of worship. Specifically, I discuss how 1 Corinthians 14 provides the rationale and scriptural basis for the balance of form and freedom that is cherished by those in this Free Church tradition.
I also have the privilege of serving on the editorial board of the Artistic Theologian and this year’s articles are excellent! They include such interesting topics as:
- How the Composer’s Worldview Shapes Musical Meaning: Haydn’s Creation and the Enlightenment
- “We’re Gonna Change This Land”: An Oral History Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Good News: A Christian Folk-Musical
- In Defense of Repetition: A Philosophy for Planning Music for Corporate Worship
- Forming Disciples through Corporate Worship
