Why We Gather (eBook)

Psychology, Theology, and Liturgical Practice

Joshua Cockayne, Gideon Salter (Autoren)

eBook Download: PDF

2025
231 Seiten
Baylor University Press (Verlag)
9781481322935 (ISBN)

Infos

Gathering with other people matters. But what does it mean to gather? When is an experience shared, and when is it something we are doing on our own? These questions have grown more urgent in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, which brought into sharp relief the difference between virtual and in-person interaction. Understanding the nature and limits of shared experience has long been of interest to psychologists and philosophers. Research in developmental psychology has explored the role of social interaction and shared experience in human development, highlighting the capacity for joint attention, the ability to attend to some feature of the world with another person with the awareness that this attention is shared.

In Why We Gather, Joshua Cockayne and Gideon Salter focus on gatherings in the context of Christian worship, drawing from several years of grant-funded, collaborative research. They demonstrate that, whether reciting words of formal liturgy, participating in extemporary prayer, or simply sitting in silence with others, we are being asked to attend to something with someone. This is the basis of all liturgy; the shared nature of worship is essential to the Christian tradition.

In dialogue with insights from theology and psychology, Cockayne and Salter explore the nature of gathered worship to show why gathering is so important, and to highlight what is lacking from virtual acts of worship. Primarily a theoretical account that contributes to the ongoing discussion of worship in theology and psychology, Why We Gather also aims to encourage leaders of public worship to reflect more deeply on the shared nature of the practice, thereby understanding how vital it is to not give up meeting together (Heb 10:25). This is innovative scholarship with practical application, an appeal to the church at large.

Autor

Joshua Cockayne is Lecturer of Mission and Evangelism and Director of the Bede Centre for Church Planting Theology at Cranmer Hall, Durham University.

Gideon Salter is Research Associate at the Department of Psychology, University of York.

Inhalt

Introduction: Why Do We Gather?
1 The Formational Power of Liturgy
2 The Shared Nature of Liturgy
3 Petition and Confession: The Value of Praying Together
4 Giving Thanks Together: Group Gratitude and Liturgical Loafing
5 Acts of Remembrance: Making the Past Present, Together
6 Baptism and the Boundaries of Jointness
Conclusion: Gathered and Sent

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.8.2025
• Verlagsort: Waco
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Biopsychologie / Neurowissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sozialpsychologie
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Gebete / Lieder / Meditationen
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Liturgik / Homiletik
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Moraltheologie / Sozialethik
• Schlagworte: Liturgy, liturgical theology, Christian worship, religious psychology, joint attention, theological anthropology, neuropsychology, science of communal practices, theology and psychology, Christianity and science
• ISBN-13: 9781481322935 / 9781481322935