Wright, N T. (Nicholas Thomas), Bp. For all God\u27s worth: true worship and the calling of the Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997

Nevile, Donald C.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 25Issue 2 The Arts and the Church Article 2011-1-1999For all God's worth: true worship and the calling ofthe ChurchDonald C. NevileFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationNevile, Donald C. (1999) "For all God's worth: true worship and the calling of the Church," Consensus: Vol. 25 : Iss. 2 , Article 20.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol25/iss2/20128 Consensusare. Wogaman’s call needs to be heard and heeded - the church needs to stopaccommodating to culture and begin transforming it through its preaching andthe changed lives of its members.Through ten chapters (100 pages) Wogaman gives pointed tips and namespitfalls to avoid: “All ethical issues must be interpreted and preachedtheologically, not just humanistically” (chapter 1); “increase your pastoral skillsand people will not be as upset when you preach on a controversial subject”(chapter 2); “preach on specific issues (use of money, sexuality) not just broadideas of social responsibility” (chapter 4); “deal fairly with the other side of theissue and kindly with those who disagree” (chapter 5); “always offer hope; do notjust preach against an issue” (chapter 8), “don’t fear and avoid criticism, welcomeit as a constructive opportunity to deepen the dialogue over an issue” (chapter10). Wogaman even gives suggestions about how to deal with high-profilepeople in your congregation who are closely tied to an ethical issue - in his case,this involves President and Mrs. Clinton.His thirteen sermons serve as decent examples of how to preach on racism,politics, the economy, sexuality gender equality, and homelessness. They aremostly topical, rather than exegetical/expositional, yet all are based on a biblicaltext. Each sermon begins with a description of the context in which it waspreached (date, purpose, state of the church or nation). Some of them are sorooted in and suited to his American context, that Canadian pastors will have to“translate” as they read. The sermons struck this reviewer as being good, but notoutstanding. A few less (six to seven sermons) would be enough with more spacegiven to explaining how his theory in part one influenced the shape and contentof the sermons.Still, there is not much written in homiletics on this topic of prophetic-socialpreaching. Wogaman’s volume is well worth the read.Mike RatteeEmmanuel Bible CollegeKitchener, OntarioFor All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the ChurchN.T. WrightGrand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1997144 pages, $15.99 SoftcoverTom Wright, a British Anglican, is the dean of Litchfield Cathedral. Heappears, according to some of the comments in this little volume, to have servedBook Reviews 129some of his career in Montreal. He has recently made a name for himself as thewriter of several contributions in the current spate of publications exploring thenature and identity of Jesus.Both the title and subtitle of this book seem to promise a discussion ofworship and its relation to the church’s task today. The title alludes to theetymological source of our word worship in the term “worth-ship”, and thesubtitle specifically refers to “true worship”. This is misleading, for in fact thebooks says very little about worship, and indeed appears to be a series of re-worked sermons delivered at his cathedral.There are fourteen chapters, all about the same length, each one introducedearly on by either a scripture text or a reference to a season or festival on theChurch Year. These fourteen chapters are divided into two sections of sevenchapters each, headed by the themes, “The God who is worthy of praise”, and“reflecting God’s image in the world”. But these two subsections tell us nothingimportant about the content which follows them.The sermons/chapters present these themes: eucharist, pastoralinstallation. Trinity, Advent, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, Easter, Exodus,Ascension, Ecumenism, Anti-Semitism, and the Beatitudes.If these are indeed sermons, then Wright is a good preacher. The tone ispastoral and chatty, perhaps slightly condescending in the style of Anglicandivines, but nevertheless biblically sophisticated without being iconoclastic. Hisprocess is inductive and experiential. He proclaims orthodox Christian truth in asimple and transparent manner. Yet he is also a clever theologian, as we shouldexpect. He is able to push at the edges of the acceptable and orthodox, butalways in a persuasive way, in the best tradition of Anglican theologians who arenot bound by confessionalism, yet manage to stay within the fences of what isexpected.There is nothing startling here, though Wright’s New Testament scholarshipis everywhere in evidence. He provides clever insights into many of the texts hediscusses. My favourite is “The Older Brother”, where he uses the familiar parableof the prodigal son to look at Christian anti-Semitism and provide a way forChristians to accept contemporary Judaism without relinquishing belief in Jesusas messiah.In sum, a good homiletical read, but not much here about worship!Donald NevileHighwood Lutheran ChurchCalgary, Alberta

For all God\u27s worth: true worship and the calling of the Church

Scholars Commons

Consensus
Volume 25
Issue 2 The Arts and the Church Article 20
11-1-1999
For all God's worth: true worship and the calling of
the Church
Donald C. Nevile
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus
This Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Nevile, Donald C. (1999) "For all God's worth: true worship and the calling of the Church," Consensus: Vol. 25 : Iss. 2 , Article 20.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol25/iss2/20
128 Consensus
are. Wogaman’s call needs to be heard and heeded - the church needs to stop
accommodating to culture and begin transforming it through its preaching and
the changed lives of its members.
Through ten chapters (100 pages) Wogaman gives pointed tips and names
pitfalls to avoid: “All ethical issues must be interpreted and preached
theologically, not just humanistically” (chapter 1); “increase your pastoral skills
and people will not be as upset when you preach on a controversial subject”
(chapter 2); “preach on specific issues (use of money, sexuality) not just broad
ideas of social responsibility” (chapter 4); “deal fairly with the other side of the
issue and kindly with those who disagree” (chapter 5); “always offer hope; do not
just preach against an issue” (chapter 8), “don’t fear and avoid criticism, welcome
it as a constructive opportunity to deepen the dialogue over an issue” (chapter
10). Wogaman even gives suggestions about how to deal with high-profile
people in your congregation who are closely tied to an ethical issue - in his case,
this involves President and Mrs. Clinton.
His thirteen sermons serve as decent examples of how to preach on racism,
politics, the economy, sexuality gender equality, and homelessness. They are
mostly topical, rather than exegetical/expositional, yet all are based on a biblical
text. Each sermon begins with a description of the context in which it was
preached (date, purpose, state of the church or nation). Some of them are so
rooted in and suited to his American context, that Canadian pastors will have to
“translate” as they read. The sermons struck this reviewer as being good, but not
outstanding. A few less (six to seven sermons) would be enough with more space
given to explaining how his theory in part one influenced the shape and content
of the sermons.
Still, there is not much written in homiletics on this topic of prophetic-social
preaching. Wogaman’s volume is well worth the read.
Mike Rattee
Emmanuel Bible College
Kitchener, Ontario
For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church
N.T. Wright
Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1997
144 pages, $15.99 Softcover
Tom Wright, a British Anglican, is the dean of Litchfield Cathedral. He
appears, according to some of the comments in this little volume, to have served
Book Reviews 129
some of his career in Montreal. He has recently made a name for himself as the
writer of several contributions in the current spate of publications exploring the
nature and identity of Jesus.
Both the title and subtitle of this book seem to promise a discussion of
worship and its relation to the church’s task today. The title alludes to the
etymological source of our word worship in the term “worth-ship”, and the
subtitle specifically refers to “true worship”. This is misleading, for in fact the
books says very little about worship, and indeed appears to be a series of re-
worked sermons delivered at his cathedral.
There are fourteen chapters, all about the same length, each one introduced
early on by either a scripture text or a reference to a season or festival on the
Church Year. These fourteen chapters are divided into two sections of seven
chapters each, headed by the themes, “The God who is worthy of praise”, and
“reflecting God’s image in the world”. But these two subsections tell us nothing
important about the content which follows them.
The sermons/chapters present these themes: eucharist, pastoral
installation. Trinity, Advent, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, Easter, Exodus,
Ascension, Ecumenism, Anti-Semitism, and the Beatitudes.
If these are indeed sermons, then Wright is a good preacher. The tone is
pastoral and chatty, perhaps slightly condescending in the style of Anglican
divines, but nevertheless biblically sophisticated without being iconoclastic. His
process is inductive and experiential. He proclaims orthodox Christian truth in a
simple and transparent manner. Yet he is also a clever theologian, as we should
expect. He is able to push at the edges of the acceptable and orthodox, but
always in a persuasive way, in the best tradition of Anglican theologians who are
not bound by confessionalism, yet manage to stay within the fences of what is
expected.
There is nothing startling here, though Wright’s New Testament scholarship
is everywhere in evidence. He provides clever insights into many of the texts he
discusses. My favourite is “The Older Brother”, where he uses the familiar parable
of the prodigal son to look at Christian anti-Semitism and provide a way for
Christians to accept contemporary Judaism without relinquishing belief in Jesus
as messiah.
In sum, a good homiletical read, but not much here about worship!
Donald Nevile
Highwood Lutheran Church
Calgary, Alberta


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For all God\u27s worth: true worship and the calling of the Church

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