Book Reviews

In this review of Zac Hicks’s The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry for Worship Leaders and Teams (Zondervan, 2016), published in Artistic Theologian 6 (2018), Aniol welcomes the book’s call for worship leaders to shepherd congregations rather than perform. He commends Hicks’s recognition that worship leadership shapes belief and that musical forms are not neutral.

Aniol also identifies weaknesses. The book offers no substantive biblical case for worship leadership as a pastoral office and downplays pastoral qualifications. And although Hicks rejects the idea of worship leaders “ushering” people into God’s presence, Aniol argues that he assumes a charismatic theology of God’s presence and emotional flow throughout.

In this review of Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (Sentinel, 2017), published in Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 22 (2017), Aniol argues that Dreher’s proposal is not a call to withdraw from culture. Instead, it is a needed correction for an American Christianity that has become as secular as the surrounding culture. He summarizes Dreher’s account of Western decline and his Benedictine principles of order, prayer, work, asceticism, stability, community, hospitality, and balance.

Writing as a conservative Baptist, Aniol judges Dreher’s assessment and solutions sound and essentially biblical. He notes reservations about a few practical suggestions and about cross-denominational cooperation that lacks careful doctrinal distinctions.

This review essay on gospel-shaped liturgy, published in Artistic Theologian 2 (2013) as “Gospel-Shaped Worship: A Review of Recent Literature,” examines four books that argue the structure of Christian worship should follow the shape of the gospel. The books are Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Worship, Robbie F. Castleman’s Story-Shaped Worship, Mike Cosper’s Rhythms of Grace, and James K. A. Smith’s Imagining the Kingdom.

Aniol weighs each book’s strengths and weaknesses. He concludes that all four offer a welcome corrective to worship that lacks biblical or theological structure. If he had to choose only one, he would recommend Castleman’s for its balance of scholarship and accessibility.

Aniol’s review of Robbie F. Castleman’s Story-Shaped Worship: Following Patterns from the Bible and History (InterVarsity Press, 2013) appeared in Artistic Theologian 2 (2013) as part of his review essay “Gospel-Shaped Worship: A Review of Recent Literature.” He commends Castleman’s accessible yet substantial case that ordered worship should reenact the gospel story as patterned in Scripture and church history. He sees the absence of Communion from her pattern of worship as the book’s main weakness, and he questions her rejection of the regulative principle. Of the books in the essay, though, this is the one he recommends most for pastors and church musicians.

Aniol’s review of Mike Cosper’s Rhythms of Grace: How the Church’s Worship Tells the Story of the Gospel (Crossway, 2013) appeared in Artistic Theologian 2 (2013) as part of his review essay “Gospel-Shaped Worship: A Review of Recent Literature.” He notes that the book is written for a popular audience and draws on Bryan Chapell and James K. A. Smith. He values its Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation framework for liturgy and its account of how revivalism displaced gospel-shaped worship. However, he judges the final two chapters loosely connected to the argument. He also finds Cosper’s claim that musical form is neutral at odds with his own case that worship forms us.

Aniol’s review of James K. A. Smith’s Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (Baker Academic, 2013) appeared in Artistic Theologian 2 (2013) as one section of his review essay “Gospel-Shaped Worship: A Review of Recent Literature.” He commends Smith’s argument that the form of liturgy shapes the imagination and affections and that form and content cannot be separated. He questions three things: Smith’s grounding of Christian action in the missio Dei and cultural transformation, his failure to distinguish bodily impulses from spiritual affections, and his minimizing of propositional doctrine. Even so, Aniol recommends the book for pastors, church leaders, and students of worship.

In this review of Doxology and Theology: How the Gospel Forms the Worship Leader, edited by Matt Boswell (B&H, 2013), published in Artistic Theologian 2 (2013), Aniol surveys the book’s fourteen chapters by various worship leaders. The book grew out of a conference of the same name and argues that theology is for every Christian, especially worship leaders. Aniol agrees with Boswell that worship leaders serve at least as functional elders and need theological grounding, and he calls the book a welcome corrective. However, he doubts that every chapter follows from its thesis, citing Aaron Ivey’s chapter on social justice. He also sees the book as only a starting point.

In this review of Jason Helopoulos’s A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home (Christian Focus, 2013), published in Artistic Theologian 2 (2013), Aniol describes the book as a motivational and practical guide. It grounds family worship in Scripture and parental responsibility and encourages families to pursue it with joy rather than legalism. He praises its tips, resources, and understanding tone. He notes, though, that it is only an introduction, and that a fuller theology of worship and of how children are spiritually formed is needed to correct common misconceptions. He nevertheless recommends it highly.

In this review of Albert M. Wolters’s Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (2nd ed., Eerdmans, 2005), published in Artistic Theologian 1 (2012), Aniol places the book within the Neo-Calvinist, transformationalist approach to culture. He summarizes its creation-fall-redemption framework and its categories of structure and direction. He criticizes Wolters for conflating God’s creation with human creations, for failing to distinguish basic elements from the forms they take, and for caricaturing the two kingdom view. Still, he concludes that the book gives a clear and engaging portrait of the transformationalist position.

In this 2011 review of Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic, Aniol summarizes Wolterstorff’s challenge to the modern view that art exists mainly for passive aesthetic contemplation. Wolterstorff argues instead that works of art serve a wide range of human actions, including liturgy. Aniol finds the argument persuasive in its humbling of the artist as a servant. However, he argues that Wolterstorff overcorrects by treating disinterested aesthetic delight as inferior to function, which strips art of its intrinsic worth. Even so, he regards the book as an enlightening introduction to a Christian aesthetic.

In this review of Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice (Baker Academic, 2009), published in Themelios 34 (2009), Aniol traces Chapell’s argument that “structures tell stories” and that a Christian liturgy should therefore re-present the gospel. Chapell finds common elements in historic liturgies and biblical examples, from adoration and confession through assurance, thanksgiving, petition, instruction, charge, and blessing. Aniol calls the book an engaging exploration that pastors will benefit from, while allowing for disagreement on some specific applications.

In this 2008 review of Dean Kurtz’s God’s Word, the Final Word on Worship and Music: A Biblical Study, Aniol recommends the book as a helpful resource. It surveys worship and music from Genesis to Revelation and pairs exegesis of key passages with principles and applications. He commends Kurtz’s grasp of key categories: the distinction between pop and folk culture, concern over manufacturing feelings in contemporary worship, the dangers of trivial children’s sacred music, 1 Corinthians 8–10 and sinful associations, and culture and multiculturalism. He disagrees with Kurtz’s classification of revivalist gospel songs as folk music.