Performing the Gospel
Exploring the Borderland of Worship, Entertainment, and the Arts
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What is the difference between good worship and good entertainment? Too often, people disparage some aspect of worship by calling it "just entertainment" or "just a performance." Others say that they do not need to go to church because they have profound spiritual or even religious experiences at concerts, plays, movies, or dances. How is worship different from these performing arts? How is art different from entertainment? This book looks at the history of the performing arts both in worship and as worship, with particular attention to the attitudes that shape our ideas about both worship and entertainment. Working definitions of words like "art," "excellence," "liturgy," and "play" help to illuminate what different people mean when they use them in conversations about Christian worship. Putting theological, scriptural, and practical writings on worship and the performing arts in conversation with interviews with dancers, musicians, actors, preachers, and liturgical scholars, this volume is intended to help pastors, performers, and everyone who plans, leads, or cares about worship talk with one another in mutually respectful and helpful ways.
Deborah Sokolove
Deborah Sokolove writes and teaches on the relationship between the arts, culture and religious traditions. She is director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary, where she also serves as professor of art and worship. She is the author of Sanctifying Art: Inviting Conversation between Artists, Theologians, and the Church and has contributed articles to Image, Call to Worship and The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies. Her paintings have been shown around the country, appearing in many collections. Within Seekers Church, she serves on the worship planning group, frequently preaching and leading worship.
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