Volume 09, Number 02 Nov 1979

“The World is Charged with the Grandeur of God”

A M Allchin

Fifth Centenary Lecture Edinburgh and Aberdeen November 1978 given by the Revd Canon Dr A M Allchin, Canterbury.

Christian worship affirms the transcendence of God: Holy, holy, holy! However, God is also present in the material creation, and it is this that provides the materials with which to praise God. These two dimensions have always been held together and they do not contradict each other. This is explored through poetic works by Edwin Muir, T S Eliot, St Columba, Bobi Jones, and Dafydd ap Gwilym, and then in the theology of Richard Hooker mediated through John Keble. The lecturer concluded that we should be encouraged to worship with the whole of ourselves, body as well as spirit, sight and smell, feeling and taste, as well as hearing.

Tradition and Renewal: Recent Liturgical Work in the Church of Norway

Arve Brunvoll

Arve Brunvoll of Bergen gives an account of recent liturgical work in the Church of Norway. The paper describes current patterns of worship and outlines the stirrings for reform in the 1920s. It examines in detail the work of the 1965 Liturgical Commission and its outcome of a new order for Mass in 1977. This in general was well received but there has been much criticism, especially from younger ministers and church musicians. Further changes may be expected.

Book Reviews

The Book of Common Order (1979), Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh reviewed by John Huxtable.

Liturgical Studies, E C Ratcliff, ed. A H Couratin and D H Tripp, SPCK 1976, reviewed by G D Kilpatrick, Oxford.

Preaching through the Christian Year: a selection of exegetical passages from the Church Dogmatics, made by J McTavish and H Wells, reviewed by Raymond Hammer.

Something overheard: an introduction to the New Testament, BRF
The well is deep: aspects of the biblical heritage, BRF Book Club
Singing to the Lord: the psalms as hymns, BRF Book Club
reviewed by Douglas M Murray, Callander.