Introduction
Chapter 1: Setting the Stage
Chapter 2: Training the Actors
Chapter 3: Changing Roles
Chapter 4: Changing Scenes
Chapter 5: Striking the Set
Conclusion
Shannon Craigo-Snell is Professor of Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
"Shannon Craigo-Snell makes an important contribution to the
growing conversation between theater studies and Christian
theology, especially the ways performance theory can provide
important insights into how Christian worship and ethics either
enable or fall short of enabling their central task: the formation
of Christian disciples... This is an insightful book on worship,
practice, and Christian ethics." --Aaron Klink, Religious Studies
Review
"If you enjoy making interdisciplinary connections (as I do) there
is much to relish here it is imaginative and exploratory and well
worth reading on that account."--Robin Gill, Scottish Journal of
Theology
"There is something intriguing about the inter-disciplinary
approach to doing theology. Shannon Craigo-Snell's The Empty Church
as a dialogue between the disciplines of performance theory and
theology is a case in point...For anyone who desires to transform
worship into a vital, experimental, and theologically meaningful
experience, this book offers salient insights."--Touchstone
"...[A]n illuminating and provoking ecclesiology in dialogue with
theater and performance studies." --Theology
"The Empty Church offers a fascinating theological exploration of
how the possibilities and limitations of church can be more
profoundly understood through the lens of theater studies. The
theater image goes far beyond a rich metaphor to enhance the
ecclesiological imagination. Craigo-Snell offers groundbreaking
work on the function of bodies, scripture, emotions and performance
in worship with this approach. A must read." --Mary McClintock
Fulkerson,
Professor of Theology, Divinity School Duke University
"With an enviable combination of erudition, clarity and wit,
Shannon Craigo-Snell invites those who think they know what church
is, and those who think they know what theatre is, to take another
look and think again. Her grasp of the deep connections between
them modifies our understanding of both. An exciting contribution
to the burgeoning conversation between Christian theology and
theater arts." --Trevor Hart, Rector of Saint Andrew's Episcopal
Church, St
Andrews; Honorary Professor of Divinity in the University of St
Andrews
"Church as performance--a powerful image for the possibilities of
how the church does and could function as a source for forming us
through our worship. Craigo-Snell offers a marvelous integration of
performance and theater to offer a model of liturgical worship that
opens us to holy inspiration that forms us into a people of hope
who live in expectation of the presence and grace of God. Powerful
reading." --Emilie M. Townes, Dean and the E. Rhodes and Leona
B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt
University Divinity School
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