This book explores one of the great paradoxes of our era. Western culture has almost imperceptibly come to secularize the sacred, while at the same time sacralizing the secular. The authors endeavor to show the debilitating effects that this paradox has had on the foundations of Christian worship with special reference to the history of worship and in particular the Presbyterian Church in Australia. The authors show how the theological predilection for 'minimization' has become inextricably woven into the fabric of what we call 'the theory of transformative subjugation' which drives the rationale for religious secularization. The book argues that it is necessary to consider a serious reconstruction of theological education in which its framework is located in a specific Christian theory of knowledge which engenders the Lordship of Christ and encourages a spirit of transformative love and connectedness. It is only in this context that the theology of worship and the beauty and usefulness of liturgical forms can be appreciated.

By John E. Webster and Ronald S. Laura

Introduction
Chapter 1 Socio-political Pattern in Early Presbyterianism in New South Wales
Chapter 2 Defining the Practice of Worship in the Presbyterian Church
Chapter 3 The Climax of Calvinist Liturgical Development in New South Wales
Chapter 4 A Brief History of the Theological Aetiology of Liturgical Minimisation
Chapter 5 Minimisation since 1977 in the Presbyterian Church of Australia
Chapter 6 Towards an Epistemology of Worship
Chapter 7 Towards a Reconstruction of Theological Education
Conclusion
Bibliography
About the Authors