REVIEW SECTION 401

a good testing ground of the adequacy of the "language hermeneutic"

to unify the separate disciplines in light of the key concept of "word-
event." Reading both Barr and Funk together provides a good way
to begin the test. An immediate question will be whether Barr's idea
of verbal communication between God and man, for instance, a Moses,
is the same thing that Funk means by "word-event."
CARL E. BRAATEN
Lutheran School of Theology
Chicago, Illinois

HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP, by Richard M. Spielmann. 182 pp.

New York, Seabury Press, 1966. $4.95.
This is a very useful book, chiefly because the author had good inten-
tions which he has fulfilled without apology or qualification within the
boundaries of the academic discipline in which he is at home. Many
studies have appeared in recent years with their focus upon the theology
and/or forms of Christian worship, especially among those denomina-
tions which have discovered they must come to terms with the contempo-
rary liturgical movement and stabilize their acts through new service
books. Few books, however, have presented purely a history of worship
in which its broad spectrum has come under review and technical dis-
cussions of various traditional liturgical forms have been omitted. Un-
doubtedly the most balanced presentation of a study of this other kind
is W. D. Maxwell's An Outline of Christian Worship (Oxford, 1936).
The author, Richard M. Spielmann, who is serving currently as assist-
ant professor at Bexley Hall, Kenyon College, Ohio, prepared this histori-
cal survey with a particular group in mind. He has written for those who
are interested in the origins of acts and principles of Christian worship
and who need a certain measure of historical perspective to guide them
in an age of liturgical renewal. For this reason he has created a popul;~
and non-technical volume for those whose reading background does not
permit them to appreciate works of a more scholarly character. This is
not to imply, however, that Professor Spielmann's book does not repre-
sent the fruits of informed scholarship; it merely delineates his purpose
and tempers our expectations.
In the course of ten chapters, the author sketches the career of Chris-
tian liturgical development and practice from New Testament times,
through the formative periods of the first four centuries, into the Middle
Ages, the Reformation, both in Europe and England, and rounds out the
historical study with two chapters on The Book of Common Prayer and
its American successor. A final chapter, "Christian Worship Today," is
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402 THEOLOGY TODAY
a discussion of the new climate of ecumenism and social ferment con-
fronting all churches at mid-century and contains forecasts and sugges-
tions more daring than we have been accustomed to expect from Episco-
pal Church quarters.
As a teacher of worship, this reviewer rejoices in the first seven chapters
of this volume as a timely answer to a bibliographical need. In the re-
maining chapters Professor Spielmann narrows his focus rather sharply
and, forgivably true to his own tradition, makes strong claims for the
liturgical excellence of The Book of Common Prayer. Careful students
of worship acknowledge the unsurpassed beauty and inspirational
thought of many sections of Cranmer's book, but they would enter a
caveat that liturgical borrowings have never been carried on merely one
way. In a volume dealing with Christian worship generally, the ecu-
menical flavor called for in Chapter X ought to have been prefaced by a
review of some of the newer books of common order (for example, The
Church of South India) whose forms and language approximate the
need expressed by Professor Spielmann on pages 164-166.
On the other hand, few would criticize the writer upon his attempt
to be honest and fair in an area where even a typographical error is
highly suspect. Perhaps any evaluation of this otherwise valuable treat-
ment should raise some more basic questions: Can there be an adequate
presentation of the story of Christian worship from a purely historical
stance? Is not the consideration of theological presuppositions in this
case plainly requisite to historical interpretation? Is a theology of wor-
ship possible without a common delineation of those theological princi-
ples that provide the texture of its fabric? Maybe these questions mean
another book. It could be that Professor Spielmann will write it.
DONALD MACLEOD
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey

THE RUSH HOUR OF THE GODS, by H. Neill McFarland. 267 pp. New
York, Macmillan Company, 1967. $5.95.
Even in N ew York, we cannot find such a "rush hour" as we see every-
day in Tokyo, the most populated city in the world. Certainly we do
not see "the rush hour of the gods" in America today, where "the death
of God" is rather popular. This book is about that rush hour in Japan
today. As the subtitle shows, it is a study of new religious movements
in that country, which have been mushrooming after the end of World
War II. Since two books in English on this "enigma" have already been
published in 1963, this is not the "scoop" as the author had originally
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