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

by W. David O. Taylor (Author)

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.

Back Jacket

"An excellent, nuanced, and well-timed study"

Theologian and pastor David Taylor argues that there is something for our physical bodies to do that decisively forms Christlikeness in us within the context of worship.

"An excellent, nuanced, and well-timed study. As we wrestle with the long-term impact of the pandemic on our worship practices, this work is an indispensable resource."
--Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

"The role of the human body in Christian worship has been neglected for too long but is now significantly enriched by Taylor's work. His writing displays a lifetime of scholarship and reflection, now brought together in mature form for the benefit of worshiping communities everywhere."
--Constance M. Cherry, Indiana Wesleyan University (emeritus); The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies

"Taylor reminds us that to be human means not merely to have a body but to be embodied. And at the heart of God's design for embodied persons made in his image is worship."
--Joel Scandrett, Trinity School for Ministry

"The collective minds and hearts of Christians need this book as we learn and relearn what the body has known all along."
--Lore Ferguson Wilbert, author of A Curious Faith and Handle with Care

"Taylor's thoughtful and highly readable work shows that holistic worship must engage the whole body in all its senses. This book should effectively put to rest the notion that online worship can be an adequate substitute."
--Simon Chan, former lecturer, Trinity Theological College, Singapore; editor of Asia Journal of Theology

"This book will be useful across a wide variety of worshiping traditions."
--Beth Felker Jones, Northern Seminary

"A well-written, vivid study. Taylor correlates the theological and pastoral wisdom of the church with the findings and insights of the arts and sciences to show how the triune God interacts with his people bodily in worship and engages them spiritually with their physical senses."
--John W. Kleinig, Australian Lutheran College (emeritus); author of Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body

"This book invites us into newness and renewal."
--Cecilia González-Andrieu, Loyola Marymount University; author of Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty

Author Biography

W. David O. Taylor (ThD, Duke Divinity School) is associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. An Anglican priest, he has lectured widely on the arts, from Thailand to South Africa. Taylor has written for the Washington Post, Image Journal, and Religion News Service, among others. He is the author of several books, including Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts and Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life. In 2016, he produced a short film on the psalms with Bono and Eugene Peterson. He lives in Austin, Texas.