From the Archives: "Form for the Sake of Freedom"

Each month, our blog features articles from the archives of Liturgy. Our goal is to share the wisdom from decades past so that we might celebrate the work and insights of these excellent ministers and scholars.

E. Byron Anderson

In 2003, Liturgy published an article by Ron Anderson, entitled “Form for the Sake of Freedom.”Ron Anderson explores the tension between tradition and freedom in order to help worship leaders and congregations navigate the varied demands on the worshipping community. He begins by lifting up the experiences of people with physical disabilities (neurological disorders, blindness) that, when healed, require learning the meaning of what is newly experienced. In order to recognize the meaning of the world that confronts us, we need an interpretive pattern such as is available in worship. To get at that pattern, he asks these questions:

1) "How should we respond to the tension between theological orthodoxy and social/cultural relevance?"

2) "How, in a context of globalization, can we accept the reality of diversity, not as a threat to each other but as an expression of God’s creativity?"

3) Given cultural diversity, how are we to respect the pecularity of the Christian tradition?

4) As we contextualize worship, how might we avoid syncretism?

5) How are we to navigate being "in" but not "of" cultural practices?

Selected Quotes from

“Form for the Sake of Freedom”

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“First, we must avoid idolatries of the book—that is, of form—in which we believe that nothing in the book or in the tradition is dispensable from the liturgy. Second, we must avoid idolatries of freedom, in which we believe that everything is dispensable. Somewhere between the two lies the truth of our life together.”

~ ~ ~

“As those in ritual studies continue to teach us, we are beginning to understand that what we do is more powerful and enduring than the words we use. How we embody our faith both endures and changes more slowly than texts and words.”

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“Using the musical example of the blues: "This harmonic pattern both regulates the improvisation and permits it to happen. On the one hand, if each musician has to think constantly about the pattern, improvisation will be limited and the music will not happen. The pattern must be so much a part of them, like the beat of the heart or the regular inhaling and exhaling of the lungs, that they do not have to think about it but can play it. On the other hand, without the pattern there is nothing upon which the diverse instrumental voices can build harmony; there is only a discordant juxtaposition of voices,
speaking at or over one another.”

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“The oldest prayers were improvised, particular to the traditions, needs, and concerns of the local community. Improvisation, however, does not mean they were free of structures, conventions, or theological expectations.”

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E. Byron Anderson is associate dean of Institutional and Educational assessment and the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Worship and Music Ministry at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He is a past president of The Liturgical Conference and of Societas Liturgica and the author, most recently, of Common Worship: Tradition, Formation, Mission (Foundery Books, 2017).

If you would like access to this article, please follow this link:

E. Byron Anderson, "Form for the Sake of Freedom," Liturgy 18, no. 3 (2003): 45–52, https://doi.org/10.1080/04580630306628.