Lester Ruth
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Lovin On Jesus
$33.99Add to cartLovin’ on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship is a compact-but thorough-history of changes in North American Protestant worship that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century and that came to be known as “contemporary worship.” This scholarly but accessible work reveals a fascinating and complex lineage, which led to the worship forms that are now so common in many Christian worship services across the globe. Authors Lim and Ruth uncover the rise of this term itself in the early 1990s as the pivot point in the phenomenon’s history. They show how “contemporary worship” has multiple points of origin, and how new ways of worship developed along many different lines. The authors trace the rise of the term in the early 1990s, pointing to a new phase in its history: promotion and adoption by mainline congregations. The book documents this phase, as well as the earlier phases, with original source material including personal interviews. Lovin’ on Jesus also tells the story of the ongoing evolution of contemporary worship both within and beyond mainline congregations. It is important to note that the story of contemporary worship includes not only music, but also its other features.
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Longing For Jesus
$28.99Add to cartThe Church at Worship is a series of documentary case studies of specific worshiping communities from around the world and throughout Christian history. In this third volume, Longing for Jesus, Lester Ruth vividly portrays a very prominent, dynamic African-American holiness church in Jackson, Mississippi, in the early twentieth century.
Ruth’s rich selection of primary documents presents readers with a vibrant snapshot of Christ Temple and its prolific Gospel-music-composing pastor, Charles Price Jones, caught between factors that threatened the existence of the congregation itself: Jim Crow racism, conflicting visions for the church, appropriate Christian piety, and social aspirations. In the midst of conflicts inside and outside, the church fought to create a space where it could worship as it saw fit.
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Walking Where Jesus Walked
$29.99Add to cartSeeking to tell worship history in the same way it is usually experienced, Walking Where Jesus Walked is a document-rich snapshot of the church in Jerusalem in the late fourth century.
Here the reader journeys with a woman visiting Jerusalem as the highlight of a Holy Land pilgrimage in the last part of the fourth century. As she marvels at the new churches built at so many sites associated with Jesus Christ, she notes how remembrance shaped by Scripture and fitting to the time and place serves as the bedrock for this church’s worship. Ruth helps today’s reader hear the preaching which caused shouts of delight at the tomb of Christ, know the readings which lead the congregation to weep in the shadow of Calvary, and see the new buildings which sought to manifest God’s glory at the places where Jesus had walked, died, and risen from the grave.
By pairing contemporary descriptions, artistic portrayals, and worship texts with various commentaries to guide readers, this first in a series of case studies of particular worshiping communities from around the world and throughout Christian liturgical history aims to allow a worshiper today to think concretely and contextually about some of the continually important issues for Christian worship.
