Description
Book SynopsisDo our physical bodies really matter in corporate worship? Isn't our soul the most important part of us? Aren't our bodies, at best, negligible to worship and, at worst, a hindrance? The answer to this last question is categorically no, as Christians have attested throughout history and across the global church. The purpose of the body instead is to offer to God in worship what only it can offer--and what must be offered to God. By drawing on the wisdom of the Bible, church history, and theology, and by taking advantage of the unique insights of the arts and sciences, ethics, and spiritual formation, a respected theologian and pastor argues in this book that there is something for our physical bodies to do that decisively forms Christlikeness in us within the context of corporate worship. What we do with our postures, gestures, and movements in worship matters. How our senses of sight, scent, sound, taste, and touch are involved in worship matters. How our spontaneous and prescriptive activities form us in worship matters. All of it matters to faithful and fulsome worship for the sake of a body that is fully alive in the praise of God.
Table of ContentsContents
1.
The Glory of the BodyAn Introduction to the Body in Worship
2.
The Map of the BodyMapping Out the Landscape of the Body in Worship
3.
The Story of the BodyHistorical Perspectives on the Body in Worship
4.
The Benediction of the BodyBiblical Perspectives on the Body in Worship (Part 1)
5.
The Future of the BodyBiblical Perspectives on the Body in Worship (Part 2)
6.
The True Image of the BodyTheological Perspectives on the Body in Worship
7.
The Nature of the BodyScientific Perspectives on the Body in Worship
8.
The Art of the BodyArtistic Perspectives on the Body in Worship
9.
The Way of the BodyEthical Perspectives on the Body in Worship
10.
The Discipline of the BodyThe Prescriptive Body in Worship
11.
The Freedom of the BodyThe Spontaneous Body in Worship
12.
The End of the BodyA Conclusion to the Body in Worship
Indexes
