Kreider, Alan. Worship and evangelism in pre-Christendom. Cambridge, England: Grove Books, 1995

Nevile, Donald C.

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Worship and evangelism in pre-Christendom

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ConsensusVolume 24Issue 2 Essays on Liturgy and Worship Article 1811-1-1998Worship and evangelism in pre-ChristendomDonald 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. (1998) "Worship and evangelism in pre-Christendom," Consensus: Vol. 24 : Iss. 2 , Article 18.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol24/iss2/18130 Consensusinaccurate numbering of footnotes, Fritz West is to be thanked for thistestimony to the life and work of Anton Baumstark. Grove Books areavailable through the Anglican Book Centre, 600 Jarvis Street, Toronto M4Y2J6.Don NevilleCalgary, AlbertaWorship and Evangelism in Pre-ChristendomAlan KreiderCambridge, GK: Grove Books Limited, 199545 pages, £ 3.95 paperback monographWhat a timely topic for a book! And what a wonderful little monograph!Anyone who is currently interested in the decline of the church, and who isfamiliar with the demise of “Christendom”, will find this book useful. In thispost-Christendom era, this is a topic of intense interest: the phenomenalgrowth of the church before the Peace of Constantine.“About one thing at least, there is no dispute: the pre-Christendomchurch was growing” (5). But why? Alan Kreider, Research Fellow in Historyat Regent Park College, Oxford, gives us his theory. It was not because ofevangelism, or prayer, or public preaching, nor because of trendy, attractive,“seeker-sensitive” worship — for pagans were simply not admitted to“public” worship after the time of the Neronian persecutions. It was worship— but worship which followed a catechumenate, and which expected life-changing behaviour from those who participated. “1 believe that worship, towhich pagans were denied admission, was all-important to the spread of thechurch. It was important, not because it was attractive, but because its ritesand practices — whether by design or intuition — made a difference in thelives and communities of the worshippers” (10). Christians at that time wereout of joint with their culture, and so was their worship. Yet, the churchworshipped and grew!What made the faith of these “resident aliens” {paroikoi) so appealing?Kreider names eight factors of the Christian faith which appealed to thepagans of the day:1 . The fidelity of the martyrs;2. The ethical living of the faithful;3. Their care for the troubled and the ill in society;Book Reviews 1314. Their freedom from addiction, compulsion, magic, money, andviolence;5. Their bonds of friendship;6. Their women were concerned about the salvation of their husbands;7. The social inclusiveness of the Christian communities; and8. Their ethic of peace.How was this brought about? Through a catechumenate process,preceded by a “weeding-out” of unfit and unprepared candidates, andcradled within a worship life which supported new Christians. The purposeof all this was “...to re-form pagan people, to resocialize them, to de-construct their old world and reconstruct a new one, so that they wouldemerge as Christian people who would be at home in communities offreedom” (23). The catechumenate, at first a response to heresy andpersecution, gave persons a new history and new “folkways”.The worship of this early church was a dramatic and transformativeexperience in all its aspects, viz., the Kiss of Peace, prayers for all persons(and especially for peace and unity), the mystery of the Eucharist, theoffertory (seen as a dramatic liberation from addiction to accumulation), andso on.Sadly, this dramatic and life-changing process ended when Christianitybecame the official religion of the Roman Empire. He blames this“nationalization” of Christianity on the shift to territorial Christendom:“Where everyone was a Christian, their primary allegiance was no longer tothe trans-national family of God: it rather was to people with whom theyshared a common race and place” (44). Instead of being “resident aliens”,they were now simply “residents”.This slim, elegant, and simply written volume provides a superbjustification for the practice of traditional, rich, challenging, and life-changing worship. If our present age is somehow analogous to that of theearly, pre-Constantinian church, then perhaps we can learn from the waythey worshipped and catechized. For, like persons of old, we too need to be“detoxified” of the dominant culture. What better way than in worship!Don NevilleCalgary, Alberta

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Worship and evangelism in pre-Christendom

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