Body of Praise, A: Understanding the Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship

Do 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.

224 pages.

Contents

1. The Glory of the Body
An Introduction to the Body in Worship
2. The Map of the Body
Mapping Out the Landscape of the Body in Worship
3. The Story of the Body
Historical Perspectives on the Body in Worship
4. The Benediction of the Body
Biblical Perspectives on the Body in Worship (Part 1)
5. The Future of the Body
Biblical Perspectives on the Body in Worship (Part 2)
6. The True Image of the Body
Theological Perspectives on the Body in Worship
7. The Nature of the Body
Scientific Perspectives on the Body in Worship
8. The Art of the Body
Artistic Perspectives on the Body in Worship
9. The Way of the Body
Ethical Perspectives on the Body in Worship
10. The Discipline of the Body
The Prescriptive Body in Worship
11. The Freedom of the Body
The Spontaneous Body in Worship
12. The End of the Body
A Conclusion to the Body in Worship
Indexes