Ronald P. Byars's Books

What Language Shall I Borrow?

The Bible and Christian Worship

By: Ronald P. Byars

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What Language Shall I Borrow?

The Bible and Christian Worship

By: Ronald P. Byars

What language is most appropriate for worship? Should it lean toward the colloquial, perhaps targeting those attending a worship service for the first time? Or should it be a language with deeper roots, the language of a community that, for the most part, already loves the God to whom worship is offered? Ronald Byars argues that the communal speech that truly honors God is, in fact, biblical language, which encompasses a vast range of forms -- poetry and prose, song and proverb, parable and narrative. Byars explains how biblical language becomes liturgical language that pushes us beyond what we already think we know, requiring us to think anew about death and resurrection, beginnings and endings, and the life of faith. What Language Shall I Borrow? is an instructive, eloquent reminder not to retreat from biblical language and images but to fully embrace them in our worship today.

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Page Count

203

Publisher

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0802840140

ISBN 13

9780802840141

Come and See

Presbyterian Congregations Celebrating Weekly Communion

By: Ronald P. Byars

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Come and See

Presbyterian Congregations Celebrating Weekly Communion

By: Ronald P. Byars

Why has there been such an increase in the number of Presbyterian congregations celebrating the Lord's Supper every week? Come and See explores the following causes: generational change, ecumenical convergence, revisiting Reformed roots, heightened interest in spirituality, new perspectives offered by ritual studies, and the postmodern opening to a deeper appreciation of Scripture. Worship that is a balance of Word and Sacrament is incarnationally serious, recognizing that human persons are embodied beings who bring to worship all of our senses--not only the ability to process words. Presbyterian congregations celebrating weekly Communion are discovering ways of being and thinking missionally as they link their experiences of being nourished at the Holy Table to the needs of people who are physically as well as spiritually hungry. Come and See describes a number of congregations who have made the transition to weekly Communion and tells how they did it, working within Presbyterian polity and local cultures. Some are traditional, established congregations, while others are new church developments. They may be found in the north and south, east and west, across the broad Presbyterian theological and demographic spectrums.

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Page Count

144

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1630871737

ISBN 13

9781630871734

Believer on Sunday, Atheist by Thursday

Is Faith Still Possible?

By: Ronald P. Byars

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Believer on Sunday, Atheist by Thursday

Is Faith Still Possible?

By: Ronald P. Byars

Regular worshipers may be believers on Sunday but (nearly) atheists by Thursday. The general public, not making fine distinctions, lumps mainline Protestants together with fundamentalists fighting to hold on to a privileged status already lost. Circumstances favor religious skeptics, who find themselves with rising influence. Church members in mainline denominations feel caught between a rock and a hard place. Thus comes the critical question of the moment: is Christian faith of an intellectually serious and recognizably generous sort still possible? This book invites readers to explore basic questions about faith itself, and classically inclined Christian faith in particular. Faith is a kind of knowing, but a knowing that makes use of doubt and asserts that it is possible to be confident without claiming absolute certainty. Faith is less like agreeing with an argument and more like falling in love. Faith involves learning how to see with the eyes of the heart. Faith embraces realities that can be perceived even by a child, but that cannot always be directly expressed in the kind of language we use for discussing serious matters. Living in faith is and will always be an against-the-grain way of imagining the world.

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Page Count

147

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1532667450

ISBN 13

9781532667459

The Sacraments in Biblical Perspective

By: Ronald P. Byars

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The Sacraments in Biblical Perspective

By: Ronald P. Byars

The third volume in the exciting new Interpretation series offers a comprehensive look at the theology of sacraments. For many church people, worship is about preaching and music. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are occasional additions to Sunday services. Recognizing that church-goers are uncertain about the need for sacraments, Ronald Byars describes the possibility that the very doing of worship--the actions observed, the postures assumed, the sound and sight of water, the smell and taste of bread and wine--will subtly alter the temper of the heart and the mind. If we encounter the sacraments honestly, they lead us to the very heart of the gospel.

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Page Count

366

Publisher

Westminster John Knox Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0664235182

ISBN 13

9780664235185

Finding Our Balance

Repositioning Mainstream Protestantism

By: Ronald P. Byars

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Finding Our Balance

Repositioning Mainstream Protestantism

By: Ronald P. Byars

Mainstream American Protestantism is suffering from an identity crisis. We are not fundamentalists, but it is easy to define ourselves in reaction to them. Paralyzed by the shock of a cultural turn toward skepticism, we are tempted to make allies of the skeptics, partly to distance ourselves from the religious right and partly to lay claim to credibility in a milieu in which it is okay to be spiritual but not to be religious. A consequence is that we find ourselves playing in the shallow end of the pool. The historic Protestant principle serves as an enabler when it privileges questioning over affirmation, causing us to lose the necessary balance between the two. American-style generic Protestantism as it has evolved does not have strong enough foundations to withstand cultural pressures. Discovering an identity worth being taken seriously will require revisiting the broad catholic and reforming tradition in order to find an authoritative rather than merely reactive voice. The challenge is theological, but not to academic theology. The challenge rather is to the theology that sustains the local congregation through teaching, certainly, but most pressingly through preaching and worship. The times call for thoughtful and strategic repositioning.

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Page Count

125

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1498200257

ISBN 13

9781498200257

The Future of Protestant Worship

Beyond the Worship Wars

By: Ronald P. Byars

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The Future of Protestant Worship

Beyond the Worship Wars

By: Ronald P. Byars

Over the past several years, churches have engaged in an ongoing debate between two different styles of worship--"traditional" and "contemporary." Here, Ronald Byars argues that many of the differences between the two styles are superficial. Authentic worship, being wholly theocentric, can and must be both responsive to contemporary culture and grounded in history and tradition. Thus, rather than merely trying to please their members, congregations must focus on exploring worship that is biblical, honors our communion with the saints, and takes seriously the ways that our culture is reshaping us. He concludes with a description of an authentic, postmodern Protestant worship service.

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Page Count

148

Publisher

Westminster John Knox Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0664225721

ISBN 13

9780664225728

Preaching and Praying as Though God Matters

In the Post-establishment Church

By: Ronald P. Byars

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Preaching and Praying as Though God Matters

In the Post-establishment Church

By: Ronald P. Byars

We in mainline churches are uneasy, maybe even scared. Why are our voices not heard? After all, we are the reasonable Christians, the updated Christians, the respectable ones who have dominated the cultural landscape since colonial times. This book presumes that trying to reverse the loss of our traditional status in society is both futile and beside the point. What's called for when we find ourselves in a state of crisis is to rediscover the big picture, the Christian hope projected on a large screen. This requires the courage to revisit the sources from which all Christian hope springs, rediscovering their life-giving power. That power rises from the counterintuitive affirmations of the gospel represented in Christ's incarnation; his healing the afflicted; his raising the dead; his vulnerability; his cross, resurrection, and "universal restoration" (Acts 3:21). Preaching and worship that embodies and lifts up the hard parts, the life-giving parts, is neither fundamentalist nor an exercise in nostalgia. It is rather evidence of confidence in the triune God who makes the unknowable known. The Good Shepherd promised: "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). And when they do, they will.

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Page Count

133

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1666747114

ISBN 13

9781666747119

Christian Worship

Glorifying and Enjoying God

By: Ronald P. Byars

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Christian Worship

Glorifying and Enjoying God

By: Ronald P. Byars

Christian Worship deals with the importance of the Word and sacrament in a time when congregations are questioning the form and relevance of worship. Does it matter what happens in worship? What is the motivation for worship? Can more than one generation worship together? Commissioned by the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), this volume suggests that the answers to these and other questions have always been available in the rich treasury of the Church's theology. That treasury need only be reexamined in light of contemporary faith to provide renewal and a sense of vitality to worship.

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Page Count

132

Publisher

Geneva Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0664501362

ISBN 13

9780664501365

Preaching and Praying as Though God Matters

In the Post-establishment Church

By: Ronald P. Byars

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Preaching and Praying as Though God Matters

In the Post-establishment Church

By: Ronald P. Byars

We in mainline churches are uneasy, maybe even scared. Why are our voices not heard? After all, we are the reasonable Christians, the updated Christians, the respectable ones who have dominated the cultural landscape since colonial times. This book presumes that trying to reverse the loss of our traditional status in society is both futile and beside the point. What’s called for when we find ourselves in a state of crisis is to rediscover the big picture, the Christian hope projected on a large screen. This requires the courage to revisit the sources from which all Christian hope springs, rediscovering their life-giving power. That power rises from the counterintuitive affirmations of the gospel represented in Christ’s incarnation; his healing the afflicted; his raising the dead; his vulnerability; his cross, resurrection, and “universal restoration” (Acts 3:21). Preaching and worship that embodies and lifts up the hard parts, the life-giving parts, is neither fundamentalist nor an exercise in nostalgia. It is rather evidence of confidence in the triune God who makes the unknowable known. The Good Shepherd promised: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). And when they do, they will.

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