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Pre-reformation Liturgies

The following entries provide the reader with an overview of the major liturgies and worship orders from the early church through the nineteenth century. Each entry has three distinctive features: Introduction, Text or Order or Worship, and Commentary. Each model is preceded by a brief introduction that puts the selection into its historical setting. For clarity, the text (or order of service) and the commentary are preceded by the words "Text" or "Commentary," respectively. The commentary provides insight into the worship and experience of the worshiping community. The material is arranged in a roughly chronological order so that the reader may gain a sense of the development of worship from the early church to the beginning of the twentieth century. Worship of the early church period followed the forms of worship that emerged in the New Testament period, namely that of Word and Table. In the first three centuries, worship was simple and plain in comparison to the elaborate ceremonial that developed in the fourth and fifth centuries and that continued to develop in the Middle Ages. In these entries, ancient Christian forms of worship are described in the Didache, Justin Martyr, and The Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus. The more complex and elaborate worship of the later periods of history are illustrated in the Byzantine and Roman texts.

1. The Didache (a.d. 100)
2. Justin Martyr: The First Apology
3. The Apostolic Tradition Of Hippolytus (a.d. 215)
4. The Byzantine Liturgy (ninth Century) Part I
5. The Byzantine Liturgy (ninth Century) Part Ii
6. The Byzantine Liturgy (ninth Century) Part Iii
7. The Roman Catholic Mass (1570) Part I
8. The Roman Catholic Mass (1570) Part Ii
9. The Roman Catholic Mass (1570) Part Iii

Reformation Models Of Worship

In the next four entries we find that the sixteenth-century Reformers regarded the worship model of the Roman Catholic church in varying ways. The liturgies of Luther and of the Anglican church retained more elements of the Catholic Mass. Calvin and Hubmaier made more radical attempts to "purify" worship and discarded much of the Catholic liturgy. Unfortunately, none of the Reformers had available to them the knowledge of ancient Christian worship accessible to scholars today. Nevertheless, the Reformers sought to remain faithful to what they believed to be appropriate worship in keeping with Scripture and Scripture-based traditions.

1. Luther: Formula Missae: Order Of Mass And Communion For The Church At Wittenberg (1523)
2. Calvin: The Form Of Church Prayers, Strassburg Liturgy (1545) Part I
3. Calvin: The Form Of Church Prayers, Strassburg Liturgy (1545) Part Ii
4. The Traditional Anglican Liturgy (1662) Part I
5. The Traditional Anglican Liturgy (1662) Part Ii
6. Anabaptist: Hubmaier’s “a Form For Christ’s Supper” (1527) Part I
7. Anabaptist: Hubmaier’s “a Form For Christ’s Supper” (1527) Part Ii

Post-reformation Models Of Worship

Between 1600 and 1900 a variety of new movements grew out of the Reformation. Believers within each of these movements expressed their faith in slightly different forms of worship. These 12 entries place these forms of worship in their historical context, arranges them chronologically, and provides text and commentary. However, except for Wesley's liturgy, extended texts are not available, for most Protestant groups abandoned written texts in favor of extemporaneous prayers and forms of worship. Consequently this section contains orders of worship along with commentaries that explain the order and the experience of the worshiping community.

1. An American Puritan Model Of Worship
2. John Cotton’s New England Congregational Model Of Worship
3. The Westminster Directory
4. A Baptist Model Of Worship
5. A Quaker Model Of Worship
6. A Methodist Model Of Worship: John Wesley’s Sunday Service Part I
7. A Methodist Model Of Worship: John Wesley’s Sunday Service Part Ii
8. A Salvation Army Model Of Worship
9. A Revival Model Of Worship: Charles G. Finney
10. An Adventist Model Of Worship
11. An African-american Model Of Worship
12. A Restoration Model Of Worship
13. A Holiness Model Of Worship