Introduction to Christian Worship is a representative textbook on Christian worship.
This book is a balanced, comprehensive introduction that researches, organizes, and presents the development and practice of the major forms of Christian worship in an accessible manner.
The fact that this book has been widely used since its first edition was published in 1980, not only in Protestant seminaries but also in Orthodox and Roman Catholic seminaries, attests to its enduring value.
Editors from diverse backgrounds have revised Dr. White's Introduction to Christian Worship (4th Edition) based on recent research while maintaining his distinctive voice.
The editors included Dr. White's disciples and a new generation of worship scholars.
They each brought their expertise to this book.

The Eastern Syrian lineage, centered at Edessa, was the earliest center of the most distinctive lineage.
The most representative examples are St. Adai and St. Mary.
It is a ceremony named after Addai and Mari.
St. Basil of Caesarea in Asia Minor
It was the hometown of Basil.
The version bearing his name (along with the earlier Alexandrian version) is derived from the West Syriac style.
The so-called Byzantine Liturgy, or Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople in the 4th century.
John Chrisostom) also comes from a West Syrian background.
From Constantinople, the practice spread throughout most of the Byzantine Empire and throughout Russia.
Only the Roman rite, once known as the Rite of Peter, is more widely used.
This ceremony is the dominant rite of the Roman Catholic Church.
The extensive and mysterious Non-Roman Western lineage includes the rest, which includes four branches: the Milanese or Ambrosian, the Mozarabic, the Celtic, and the Gallican.

--- p.54

God exercises His self-giving through both of these means.
All excellent worship architecture is the result of a compromise to provide for both of these forms of sacred activity.
The entire history of church buildings is a history of arranging spaces in a way that allows us to best both speak in God's name and also engage in God's name.

--- p.124

Not only was the daily schedule rearranged, but the Psalms were also spread over a four-week period for a week's worth.
“Readings from sacred Scripture” were provided “with a richer standard,” including readings from “carefully selected” Fathers and selected stories of saints “in accordance with historical fact” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, no. 92).
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy did not subsequently call for the abandonment of Latin worship, but encouraged the laity “to recite the sacred liturgy by heart” (§100).
--- p.199

This understanding of sacramentality has practical implications for worship.
Above all, with this rich understanding of sacramentality, those who conduct worship will want their leadership to express the full signifying value of the sacraments and other liturgical acts.
In worship, the minister's body becomes a sacramental means of grace.
When we give the sacrament, it should be an act of genuine giving, not something we quickly snatch from someone's hand.
Celebrants and other worship ministers must know what their bodies are saying.
Above all, their bodies must say, “This is an important act of showing God’s love.”

--- p.281

According to the concept of ontological change, if the meaning of something is a primary component of its very existence, then we can say that the bread and wine undergo an ontological change in the Eucharist by coming to signify the body and blood of Christ.
To explain it analogically, a box of chocolates becomes a gift through the sign-act of giving, and then it is no longer just chocolate but a means of self-giving.

--- p.361