By On the Perception of Worship: The Ethnography of Worship in Four Christian Congregations in Manchester

In this highly original study based on research with four congregations in Manchester, UK, Martin D. Stringer takes an ethnographic approach to worship and attempts to uncover how Christian congregations understand their worship. In doing this the book raises important questions of methodology both in terms of ritual studies (how can we ever know how the participants in a ritual understand that ritual?) and in terms of the ethnography of contemporary urban society. This is a significant contribution to the debate on methodology in ritual studies and in the ethnography of contemporary urban society. It will be of interest to postgraduate students and scholars studying the sociology and anthropology of religion; local clergy and diocesan liturgical advisors