Changed from Glory into Glory

<p>Through tracing the liturgical history of the Christian faith from its foundation in Old Testament</p><p>Israel through the early church middle ages Reformation to the present this book demonstrates</p><p>that liturgy forms religion and religion forms liturgy.</p><p>One of the best ways to truly understand what lies at the core of the Christian faith is by studying</p><p>its worship for corporate worship does something far more significant than many Christians</p><p>recognize-public worship both reveals belief and forms belief. How a community</p><p>worships-its content its liturgy and its forms of expression-reveals the underlying religious</p><p>commitments of those who plan and lead the worship. Conversely corporate worship forms the</p><p>beliefs of the worshipers. Public worship is not simply about authentic expression of the</p><p>worshipers; rather how a church worships week after week progressively shapes their beliefs</p><p>since those worship practices were cultivated by and embody certain beliefs.</p><p>This is why it is so important for church leaders and indeed all Christians to carefully identify</p><p>what kinds of beliefs have shaped their various worship practices so that they will choose to</p><p>worship in ways that best form their minds and hearts consistent with their theological</p><p>convictions. That is the goal of this book: studying worship in the Old and New Testaments will</p><p>reveal how God deliberately prescribed worship that would form his people as he desires and</p><p>tracing the evolution of Christian worship from after the close of the New Testament to the</p><p>present day will help elucidate how theological beliefs affected the worship practices Christians</p><p>have inherited.</p><p><br></p>