2009 Study on Reformed Worship

This year, while I didn't limit myself to it, Reformed worship was my special focus of study. In January I was vigorously preparing to stand before the Missouri Presbytery (PCA) for my final oral ordination exam. I had a basic understanding of the regulative principle of worship (RPW) and what has become the usual view of images of Christ and the Sabbath (i.e. taking exception to the Confession's proscription of any use of images and recreation on the Sabbath). By summer I had formally withdrawn my two exceptions. As the year comes to a close, I think I have a pretty good grasp of the RPW and am fully convinced of the Confession's teaching on the use of images and the Sabbath day.

Excluding blog posts and podcasts, here are the books and articles I read on Reformed worship this year in no particular order (some were re-reads):

On worship proper:

• Worship: Reformed According to Scripture, Hughes Oliphant Old
• With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship, D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
• A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship, Michael Horton
• The Westminster Directory of Public Worship, Discussed by Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson
• Scripture and Worship: Biblical Interpretation & the Directory for Worship, Richard A. Muller and Rowland S. Ward
• A Primer on Worship: Recovering the High Church Puritan, Douglas Wilson
• Reformed Worship: Worship that is According to Scripture, Terry L. Johnson
• The Worship of God: Reformed Concepts of Biblical Worship, Johnson, Godfrey, Pipa, Smith, Schwertley, Shaw, Blair
• The Family Worship Book: A Resource for Family Devotions, Terry L. Johnson
• "Reframing Presbyterian Worship: A Critical Survey of the Worship Views of John M. Frame and R.J. Gore," Frank J. Smith and David C. Lachman, The Confessional Presbyterian, vol. 1, 2005
  
• "In Brief: Samuel Miller On The Regulative Principle of Worship and On 'Holy Days,'" Samuel Miller, The Confessional Presbyterian, vol. 1, 2005
  

On the Lord's Supper:

• Children at the Lord's Table: Assessing the Case for Paedocommunion, Cornelis P. Venema
• The Lord's Supper: Eternal Word in Broken Bread, Robert Letham
• The Puritans on the Lord's Supper, Vines, Calamy, Wadsworth, Alleine, Watson

On the Sabbath:

• On the First Day of the Week: God, the Christian, and the Sabbath, Iain D. Campbell
• The Lord's Day, Joseph A. Pipa, Jr.
• The Market Day of the Soul: The Puritan Doctrine of the Sabbath in England 1532-1700, James T. Dennison, Jr.
• Calvin and the Sabbath: The Controversy of Applying the Fourth Commandment, Richard Gaffin
• Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Francis Turretin, trans. George Musgrave Giger, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr., Eleventh Topic, The Law of God, The Fourth Commandment.
  
• "The Sabbath Day and Recreations on the Sabbath: An Examination of the Sabbath and the Biblical Basis for the 'No Recreation' Clause in the Westminster Confession of Faith 21.8 and the Westminster Larger Catechism 117," Lane Keister, The Confessional Presbyterian, vol. 5, 2009

On Puritan-Reformed identity (which includes The Regulative Principle of Worship):

• The Westminster Assembly: Reading Its Theology in Historical Context, Robert Letham
• Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction, Francis J. Bremer
• Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety, and Practice, R. Scott Clark
• Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were, Leland Ryken
• Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism, D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
• Reformed Theology in America, ed. David Wells
• How Do We Glorify God?, John D. Hannah
• A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, J.I. Packer
• The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, vol. 1, ed. Ligon Duncan
• The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, vol. 2, ed. Ligon Duncan