Worshiping with the Reformers - by Karin Maag (Paperback)

About the Book

In this RCS companion volume, Karin Maag takes readers inside the worshiping life of the church during the Reformation. Exploring several aspects of the church's worship, she considers what it was like to attend church, reforms in preaching, the function of prayer, how Christians experienced the sacraments, and the roles of both visual art and music in worship.

Book Synopsis

Worship of the triune God has always stood at the center of the Christian life. That was certainly the case during the sixteenth-century Reformation as well. Yet in the midst of tremendous social and theological upheaval, the church had to renew its understanding of what it means to worship God.

In this volume, which serves as a companion to IVP Academic's Reformation Commentary on Scripture series, Reformation scholar Karin Maag takes readers inside the worshiping life of the church during this era. Drawing from sources across theological traditions, she explores several aspects of the church's worship, including what it was like to attend church, reforms in preaching, the function of prayer, how Christians experienced the sacraments, and the roles of both visual art and music in worship.

With Maag as your guide, you can go to church--with the Reformers.

Review Quotes

"Worshiping with the Reformers is a sheer delight! Karin Maag has synthesized scholarly insights and a wide array of personal stories to offer a wonderfully helpful and engaging account of key facets of worship from a variety of perspectives. What we learn from this splendid volume is intrinsically valuable as well as deepening our understanding of the historical roots of our ways of worshiping today. Perhaps through exploring some of the differences and disagreements around worship in the Reformation era we might find ourselves able to engage with more generosity and understanding when it comes to our differences and disagreements about worship now."

--Suzanne McDonald, professor of systematic and historical theology at Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan

"Worshiping with the Reformers not only fills a lacuna in historical scholarship but also offers an indispensable resource for the church. Maag is an expert guide whose rich illustrations bring readers into the sanctuaries, chapels, homes, and public spaces of early modern life. This book helps us to understand the various contours of devotion--its motivations, suppressions, superstitions, prayers, visual arts, and ceremonies--demonstrating how various patterns of worship have become markers of Christian identity that endure to the present. Highly recommended!"

--Chris Castaldo, lead pastor of New Covenant Church, Naperville, Illinois, and author of Talking with Catholics About the Gospel

"In Worshiping with the Reformers, Karin Maag deftly describes the diverse religious practices that resulted from the Reformation and gives a lively view of worship in the sixteenth century. Outlining the differences among the major forms of Protestantism and with Roman Catholicism, this engaging and informative book is the ideal starting point for anyone curious about the historical development of worship practices that are still important today."

--Amy Nelson Burnett, Varner Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

About the Author

Karin Maag (PhD, The University of St. Andrews) is professor and director of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin University. She is the author of Does the Reformation Still Matter?, Lifting Hearts to the Lord: Worship with John Calvin in Sixteenth-Century Geneva, and Seminary or University: The Genevan Academy and Reformed Higher Education, 1560-1620.