Robert Webber

The wonderful American theologian Robert Webber has died at the age of 73 after eight months battling pancreatic cancer. I first came across his writings in the 1980s when I read his book ‘Evangelicals On The Canterbury Trail‘, about the rediscovery of liturgy among evangelicals. He recognised the dangers of superficiality in the evangelical church and sought to restore depth and discipleship to evangelism, with books and courses such as ‘Journey To Jesus‘.

As a result he was seen as a member of the ‘Convergence Movement‘, bringing previously separated Christian strands, traditions and groups together. It was something that characterised his life. Thus in the 1990s he famously coined the phrase ‘Blended Worship‘, in which he tried to bring together traditional and contemporary worship in a way that delivered style over substance. (The field of worship is one in which he has written countless books.)

In recent years this has seen fruition in his ‘ancient-future’ series. It began with ‘Ancient-Future Faith‘, in which he prophetically saw the need for evangelicalism in a postmodern era to draw on the ancient traditions of the whole church. He developed this theme with books on evangelism, the Christian Year and spirituality.

This ancient-future emphasis made him a kindly older friend of the emerging church movements. His most recent book listened to their beliefs, something he had begun with his book ‘The Younger Evangelicals‘.

Robert, you will be greatly missed. The Church Militant is poorer for your passing, the Church Triumphant deeply enriched. May you be at home in the worship of heaven.