Review: The Liturgy Trap by James B. Jordan

"We hear all to often that someone has decided to leave the Evangelical Christian faith and to join the Church of Rome, or Eastern Orthodoxy, or High Anglicanism. The lure is liturgy and tradition, and since the Evangelical and Reformed churches so often have such poor worship, it is not hard to understand the pull exercised by those churches that have a heritage of formality, sobriety and beauty. This cure, however, is far worse than the disease. The answer to the weaknesses of Evangelicalism is not a turn toward the fallacies and errors of Rome, Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism, but a return to Biblical patterns of worship. Just as there is true and false doctrine, so there are true and false worship patterns. In this book, James B. Jordan sorts out the true and the false in the area of worship practice, discussing the cult of the saints, the veneration of icons, apostolic succession, virginity and celibacy, the presence of Christ at His Supper, and the doctrine of tradition." - The Liturgy Trap 

Recently I took a couple of days and read the Kindle version of James B. Jordan's book The Liturgy Trap: The Bible Versus Mere Tradition in Worship. The book is an apologetic pleading to those Christians who have been enchanted by the liturgies of Rome, Constantinople, and the Anglo-Catholics. Jordan premise basically is that though he understands that liturgy is a real need in the life of the Christian, we should not leave our sure theological foundation for it, and if we do - we actually fall under the judgment of God.

After making this clear at the beginning, Jordan then dismantles some of the main theological underpinnings of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglo-Catholic systems.

Praying to Mary and the Saints Violates God's Law

In regards to praying to Mary and the saints, Jordan states that "the bottom line is this: The Bible forbids speaking to the dead. Any kind of liturgical piety that authorizes conversations with Mary and the saints must be rejected." To sum up his point, Jordan states, "lets stop abusing Mary. She was and is a wonderful person. She does not want to be worshipped or adored. She does not engage in necromancy, making appearances to people and leading them to break God's law against communing with the dead."

This is a very strong point that I wish Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglo-Catholics would consider more. Should we expect Mary, and the saints who love God and his commandments to openly break them and commit a sin and crime that was worthy of death under the Law (Lev. 20:27)? Those who did such things were abominations to the Lord (Deut. 18:9-12). Those who love God are said to "keep my (Jesus') commandments", not break them (John 14:15). As Jordan says, the Bible is clear on speaking to the dead. We must reject any kind of liturgical system that authorizes such practices. If we partake in such a practice, we will surely fall under God's judgment.

Tradition, Smadition 

Jordan doesn't just stop there. He also takes on the doctrine of Holy Tradition which is cleaved to tightly by Catholics and Orthodox. He states that "Tradition is far, far less clear than the Bible. After all, where can anyone go to find a clear statement of the 'Tradition'? Moreover, the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics, and the Anglo-Catholics have very serious differences over what the 'Tradition' contains. The Orthodox say that the 'Tradition' means the only two-dimensional paintings may be put in the church; statues are forbidden. Rome says that 'Tradition' includes the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Infallibility of the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra, two points rejected in Orthodoxy. The Orthodox say that the West left the 'Tradition' when it put the Filioque clause in the Creed while the Armenian Church says that Orthodoxy left the 'Tradition' by writing the Nicene Creed in the first place.

Jordan goes on to state, "tradition has value and theological importance, but it is not on the same level as the Bible. The Bible is the self-attesting Word of God; tradition is not self-attesting. . . Moreover, finally, it should be obvious that the 'Tradition' of the Fathers is only what we say it is. We take what we like and call the Authentic Tradition, and we discard the rest as unfortunate chaff. This is what the Rome, Anglo-Catholic, and Orthodox do as well. The Fathers do not say what the 'Tradition' is; we do."

This is a valid point, and appears to be a real problem for these systems. If Tradition is authoritative, then what does that include? How can it be authoritative if the content within the tradition is often times in disagreement with itself? Depending on who you ask, you will get a different answer. However, regardless of the answer, this destroys the doctrine entirely, because at the very bottom of it, as Jordan points out, Holy Tradition is never anything more than what men say it is. Nobody denies that the Fathers erred on all kinds of points. As Jordan points out, Irenaeus held that Jesus was fifty years old when he was crucified. Does anyone really want to defend this? The fact is that everyone picks and chooses when it comes to church history. As Biblical Christians, we must used the Bible as our guide as to what Tradition is true and what is not.

Gnostic Mary 

Jordan also takes down Apostolic Succession, the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, and Iconology.

The argument against the Perpetual Virginity of Mary is very intriguing. Jordan states that this doctrine is founded within a Greek ascetic mindset rather than a Hebraic, Biblical mindset. He states, "Somehow, sex and the enjoyment of it seems 'dirty', and Mary has been freed from this. Maybe more modern Catholic and Orthodox theologians don't think this way, but those who developed the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary did think this way." He then goes on to say, "The idea of the perpetual virginity of Mary is a sad distortion of what the Bible teaches about virginity, and expresses the powerful influence of the anti-body mindset of Greek philosophy."

Jordan states that this doctrine finds its roots in Greek Gnosticism, which teaches a Dualism that the spirit is good, and the physical is evil. When applied to Mary, one can immediately see the influence - perpetual virginity is good, sex is evil.

Overall Thoughts 

In conclusion, I agree with Jordan's premise. The answer isn't leaving behind our Reformed bonafides behind because we have been enchanted by the liturgies of these systems. If we do, we will surely find ourselves under the judgment of God for partaking in necromancy, idolatry, and rejecting the authority of Scripture for tradition and Greek philosophy. Instead, we must recover a Biblical concept of worship. Liturgy is a real need, but not at the expense of truth. We don't just need one or the other. We need both. 

The only thing that I didn't like about this book was that the Kindle version that I bought had many spelling and formatting errors. Sometimes this left me guessing at what Jordan was actually saying at some points, but I thankfully I was able to figure it out.

This book is light reading and can be knocked out in a day or two easily. This will be a handy little book I'll keep back for reference when conversing with Catholics and Orthodox.

Overall, I would recommend this book. It providentially came into my life at a time when I began studying many of the doctrines of Rome and the East. So with all of this in mind, the only thing I would recommend to those who are interested in this short book get the paperback version instead of the Kindle version.