Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDr. Timothy Son has written an insightful book on the nature of religious rituals and practices for today’s expanding global society. While his focus is on Christian congregations, his understanding of ritual principles based on faithful practices can be applied to many other religious organizations. Son invites the reader to take a deeper plunge into one's own traditional identity, and in doing so to also discover contrasting ritual practices often neglected within our global neighborhood. -- Carnegie Samuel Calian, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Academically rigorous, theologically sound, and spiritually rich, this book offers an insightful proposal for understanding intrinsic dialectics of ritual practices in forming and transforming congregational identity. Son invites and encourages us to have genuine conversations with our past, present, and future, and to discover a new sense of identity. -- Hyun-Sook Kim, Yonsei University, Korea
Son passionately writes how ritual practice forms, reforms, and transforms individual spiritual identity as well as congregational collective identity—not only in primitive society, but also in postmodern society. He presents fresh, new ideas with thorough knowledge for local congregational leaders, seminary professors and students, doctoral students, and workshop leaders. -- Nam Soon Song, Knox College, University of Toronto
Table of ContentsPart I: Discovering the Educational Efficacies of Ritual 1.Rituals for Congregational Formation 2.Ritual to Build, or to Deconstruct? Critical Reflection on Victor Turner’s Ritual Theory 3.Ritual Practice as a Process of Knowing Part II: Educating Congregations for Identity Formation 4.Exploring the Anatomy of Congregational Identity: Learning Various Constitutive Elements of Congregational Identity 5.Painting a Congregation’s Self-portrait: Integrating Worldviews, Church Images and Core Values into a Congregation’s Self-images 6.Wrestling with a Cultural Goliath: The Challenges and Opportunities of Postmodern Society in Constructing Congregational Identity Part III: Where Ritual Theory Meets Ministry Practice 7.Looking into a Portrait Artist’s Palette: Analyzing a Case Study of Ritual of Installation and Its Implications to Congregational Identity Construction 8.Practical Implications of Ritual Practice for Congregational Ministry Appendix A—Survey Questionnaires Appendix B—Worldview Test
