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American Methodist Worship

Online ISBN:
9780199834754
Print ISBN:
9780195126983
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

American Methodist Worship

Karen B. Westerfield Tucker
Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

Assistant Professor of Liturgical Studies at the Divinity School

Duke University
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Published online:
1 November 2003
Published in print:
5 April 2001
Online ISBN:
9780199834754
Print ISBN:
9780195126983
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book offers a comprehensive examination and analysis of American Methodist worship, tracing its evolution from John Wesley to the end of the twentieth century. Attention is paid to the officially approved liturgical texts of ten American Methodist denominations. Yet, these texts do not reveal the full complexity of Methodist worship – leaders of worship have always had the freedom to depart from the established forms, and some characteristically Methodist worship services were organized without official texts. Therefore, other sources are scrutinized to provide a broader assessment. This book draws upon personal diaries and journals, church and secular newspapers, and materials from local church archives, thus exposing the processes and influences – ecclesiastical, social, and cultural – that motivated Methodists to rethink their theology of worship and to reorganize their worship praxis. Such an approach permits consideration of the nontextual matters of liturgical space, choreography, and ritual performance. Methodist worship's interactions with the wider society and cultures are addressed, and an evaluation is made of how particular factors and developments evident in national life affected liturgy and the performance of worship in what may be identified as the “Americanization” of Methodist worship.

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