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The Transformation of Christian Worship: Recent History of Protestant and Catholic Practices (1960-2000)
John Witvliet, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
June 26-July 7, 2006
Calvin College
Hosted by Seminars in Christian Scholarship
Funds provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc.

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Seminar Description
The last four decades have witnessed remarkable changes in the practice of Christian worship across Catholic and Protestant communities. One notable feature of all the change is how diverse it is. Rarely has the church been reforming in so many different directions at the same time. The charismatic movement, liturgical movement, church growth movement, hymn renaissance, the ecumenical movement, and postmodern cultural patterns have each transformed worship in many denominations and traditions.

This seminar will study several primary source documents of each of these major movements (e.g., film clips, magazine articles, liturgical texts, photographs of worship spaces, personal memoirs, and musical examples), as well as analytic discussions of these transformative decades.

The first goal of this work is simply to better understand the complexity of recent change and to identify common themes among changes in various Christian traditions. The second and deeper goal is to probe through theological reflection the attitudes we bring to these topics and to current work that aims to promote faithful and vital worship practices today.

The seminar is designed for 1) scholars (including graduate students) in several fields who hope to publish articles on this period, 2) teachers and professors who offer courses related to the practice of worship or the history of North American Christianity, 3) journalists, denominational and para-church organization administrators and editors who want a deeper understanding of the context of their writings or program, and 4) pastors, musicians, artists, architects, and worship leaders who want to better understand the context of their pastoral ministry. We hope for a seminar that includes members with varying interests, including music, art, architecture, preaching, cultural history, popular culture, liturgy, and more.

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