Lovin' on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship - Paperback

by Lester Ruth (Author), Lim Swee Hong (Author)

Swee Hong Lim and Lester Ruth have filled an important gap in the study of worship. Lovin' on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship is the first scholarly work of its kind on this topic. Lim and Ruth trace the origins and development of what we commonly call contemporary Christian worship, exploring it thoroughly and methodically. Their research includes early recordings and interviews with many who were directly involved in the early stages. The authors were students of James White, and their book is, in a sense, a much-needed addition to White's classic Introduction to Christian Worship. The thematic structure of Lovin' on Jesus mirrors that of White's Introduction, making this book exceedingly useful for students and practitioners in the study of Christian worship as a whole. This is an essential resource for all students, scholars, worship leaders, and pastors who are serious about understanding the worship they lead. "Meticulously researched, accessibly written, generous in its praise, and balanced in its critiques--this is the book for which many of us have long been waiting." --Melanie C. Ross, Assistant Professor of Liturgical Studies, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT "Particularly useful for teaching is the way Lim and Ruth organize their account by practices of time, space, music, prayer, technology, and scripture. This will immediately become a required textbook for the courses I teach on Christian worship." --Ed Phillips, Associate Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology and Coordinator of the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, GA "Readers will find Lim and Ruth's one-of-a-kind history convincing and rigorous. The authors show how a modern genre of Christian worship claimed its place, what it all means, and where it is heading." --Gerald Liu, Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ "Lovin' on Jesus is an important book for every pastor, worship leader, and worshipper. This wonderfully prepared study will help you keep your worship experience biblically centered, dynamic, and growing." --Rick Muchow, Founding Worship Pastor, Saddleback Church, worship leader and coach

Author Biography

Lester Ruth (Author)
Lester Ruth is a historian of Christian worship with a particular interest in the early church and the last 250 years, especially the history of contemporary praise and worship. He is passionate about enriching the worship life of current congregations, regardless of style. He believes that careful reflection on the worship of other Christians--whether past or present, whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox--can serve to enrich the church today. Dr. Ruth is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He is also the former president of the Charles Wesley Society. Able to range across the entire breadth of Christian liturgical history, his most recent studies have been on the band-based worship known as contemporary praise and worship. Along this line, he has recently co-authored, with Dr. Lim Swee Hong, A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship and Lovin' On Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship. He has also edited both popular, Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship, and academic studies, Essays on the History of Contemporary Praise and Worship, on this worship phenomenon, each of these volumes featuring essays by Duke doctoral students. Dr. Ruth's works exist in Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, and (soon) Ukrainian translations.

Lim Swee Hong (Author)
Swee Hong Lim is the Deer Park Assistant Professor of Sacred Music and Director of the Master of Sacred Music Program at Emmanuel College, Toronto, Canada. He was a student of James F. White - the former University of Notre Dame Professor of Theology (Liturgical Studies).