As regular readers will know, I receive books through booksneeze.com (used to be thomas nelson) to review. Fair warning – I received this copy in return for a review, however, I always give an honest review.
Called to Worship - The Biblical Foundations of Our Response to God’s Call by Vernon Whaley is an expansive book – examining the foundations of worship all through scripture. The author looks at worship in basically every chapter (and therefore ‘era’) of the Bible, through the people and events in the Bible.
Firstly, this is not a ‘read through’ book . In reality, it is a textbook – with basically a piece by piece examination of chapters and people in the Bible in a systematic fashion. It is not really topic based (eg, musical worship), it starts in Genesis goes from there. So don’t expect to pick it up and zoom through it!
On the other hand though, the insights and revelations were clear and concise, and often well written – for example showing how though many of the Israelites were sinners (even David – a man with a heart after God), that God accepted their worship, despite the fact there wasn’t a perfect one in them. It therefore allows you to read a section, then leave it whilst you absorb and think about what you read and learned – then come back and move on.
So, taken as a textbook, it can also have other advantages – if you want to focus on an area – then feel free. Whilst it won’t be complete, you won’t be missing key parts of the ‘story’ of you go straight to the New Testament for example. When I first chose this book I was expecting a much lighter read – which was initially a turn off for me. But once I realised it’s place as a textbook, and therefore the wealth of information contained within it could be accessed that way, the book became much more useful to me.
Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars – based on the fact it is a well written textbook. If you keep your expectations along those lines, it is a great resource.
Drewe
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Pictures by Drewe & Kerry Zanki are licensed through Creative Commons, Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0.
