Lifting Hearts to the Lord: Worship with John Calvin in Sixteenth-Century Geneva (Church at Worship Case Studies from Christian Hist (CAW)) - Softcover

David W. Hall -- Midway Presbyterian Church, Powder Springs, Georgia -Karin Maag's work on Calvin's theology and practice of worship is as readable as it is well-researched. Through her translations, she returns Calvin's own voice to a variety of topics. Readers are treated to a fine history, plus a well-rounded collection of Calvin's own thought and texts, along with assessments by his contemporaries. The liturgical landscape could hardly be better painted than it is in this superb work!- Raymond A. Mentzer -- University of Iowa -A superb resource. . . . The texts, meticulously selected and elegantly translated, illuminate the complex character and powerful meaning of the earliest Reformed liturgy. In addition, the accompanying materials -- historical explanations, perceptive observations, pertinent questions, timelines, maps, and illustrations -- deftly establish the setting for Calvin's great project to recapture authentic Christian worship.- Karen E. Spierling -- Denison University -This volume demonstrates Karin Maag's formidable skills as both an expert scholar of the Reformation and a thoughtful teacher, bringing the experience of Reformation-era Geneva to modern readers in a highly engaging way. . . . The overviews and documents provided here will provoke lively discussion about the difficulties of religious reform in early modern Europe and the related challenges that various Christian communities and congregations face in the twenty-first century.- David W. Hall Midway Presbyterian Church, Powder Springs, Georgia Karin Maag s work on Calvin s theology and practice of worship is as readable as it is well-researched. Through her translations, she returns Calvin s own voice to a variety of topics. Readers are treated to a fine history, plus a well-rounded collection of Calvin s own thought and texts, along with assessments by his contemporaries. The liturgical landscape could hardly be better painted than it is in this superb work! Raymond A. Mentzer University of Iowa A superb resource. ... The texts, meticulously selected and elegantly translated, illuminate the complex character and powerful meaning of the earliest Reformed liturgy. In addition, the accompanying materials historical explanations, perceptive observations, pertinent questions, timelines, maps, and illustrations deftly establish the setting for Calvin s great project to recapture authentic Christian worship. Karen E. Spierling Denison University This volume demonstrates Karin Maag s formidable skills as both an expert scholar of the Reformation and a thoughtful teacher, bringing the experience of Reformation-era Geneva to modern readers in a highly engaging way. ... The overviews and documents provided here will provoke lively discussion about the difficulties of religious reform in early modern Europe and the related challenges that various Christian communities and congregations face in the twenty-first century. "

Bringing together a rich range of primary sources - images, liturgies, sermons, letters, eyewitness accounts, and Genevan consistory records - this book examines worship as it was taught and practiced in John Calvin's Geneva. Several of these primary sources are translated into English for the first time, offering new resources for studying Calvin and his context. Karin Maag uses Geneva as a case study for investigating the theology and practice of worship in the Reformation era. Covering the period from 1541 to 1564, the year of Calvin's death, Lifting Hearts to the Lord captures both Calvin's signal contribution to Reformation worship and the voices of ordinary Genevans as they navigated - and debated, even fought about - the changes in worship resulting from the Reformation.