Robert E. Webber

Robert Eugene Webber (November 27, 1933 – April 27, 2007) was an American theologian known for his work on worship and the early church. He played a key role in the Convergence Movement, a move among evangelical and charismatic churches in the United States to blend charismatic worship with liturgies from the Book of Common Prayer and other liturgical sources.

The son of a Baptist minister, Webber was raised in the Belgian Congo where his parents were missionaries with the Africa Inland Mission. [Robert E. Webber, "The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life" (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2006), 80.] He received his bachelor's degree from Bob Jones University in 1956 and went on to earn a divinity degree from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in 1959, and a masters degree in theology from Covenant Theological Seminary in 1960. In 1968 he received his doctoral degree in theology from Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis.

Webber began teaching theology at Wheaton College in 1968. Existentialism was the primary focus of Webber's research and lectures during his first years at Wheaton. However, he soon shifted his focus to the early church. In 1968 he wrote "Common Roots", a book that examined the impact of second-century Christianity on the modern church.

In 1985 Webber wrote "Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church", in which he described the reasons behind his own gradual shift away from his fundamentalist/evangelical background toward the Anglican tradition. Webber faced an enormous amount of criticism from evangelicals in response to this book. Nevertheless, his work was highly influential, and his ideas grew in popularity in evangelical circles.

During the latter half of his life, Webber took a special interest in Christian worship practices. He wrote more than 40 books on the topic of worship, focusing on how the worship practices of the ancient church have value for the church in the 21st century postmodern era. Among his books are "Ancient-Future Faith", "Ancient-Future Time", "Ancient-Future Evangelism", "The Younger Evangelicals", and "The Divine Embrace". Webber also served as editor of "The Complete Library of Christian Worship" (1995), an eight-volume series created to serve as a comprehensive reference for professors, students, pastors, and worship leaders. The series draws on several thousand texts and publications and covers topics like Old and New Testament worship and contemporary applications for music and the arts.

Webber founded the Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, Florida in 1993, which offered doctor of worship studies and master's of worship studies degree programs. It was the only institute in the country to focus exclusively on worship education. He remained president of the institute until his death.

In 2006, he organized and edited the "Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future", a document intended "to restore the priority of the divinely inspired biblical story of God's acts in history".

Webber died of pancreatic cancer on April 27, 2007 at his home in Sawyer, Michigan, aged 73.

References

External links

* The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies [http://www.iwsfla.org]
* Robert E. Webber Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future [http://www.aefcenter.org]
*Christianity Today article, "Robert E. Webber, Theologian of 'Ancient-Future' Faith, Dies at 73" [http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/aprilweb-only/118-12.0.html]
*2006 interview [http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/september/10.54.html]