•The Complete Library of Christian Worship • Edited by Robert E. Webber
Worship LibraryThe Complete Library of Christian Worship
Music And The Arts In Christian Worship1,000-Character Scholarly Preview

Mime In Worship

Contributor / Topic: Music and the Arts in Worship
Source: The Complete Library of Christian Worship, Robert E. Webber, General Editor

Gestures heighten our interest in conversations, speeches, sermons, and the narratives of storytellers. But more significantly, gestures reveal a great deal about our experiences, thoughts, and feelings regarding the words we speak. Gestures and movements clarify our relationship to what we say. Mime takes the natural qualities of gesture a step further. By acting out narratives, mime reveals meanings or insights into relationships and feelings that can not be experienced through words alone. Whether acted in silence or with background music, mimes highlight important dimensions of their stories with exaggerated gestures and action sequences. By the end of the mime, the viewers' eyes and heart perceive what their ears have frequently ignored. As a medium of narration and proclamation, mime is no stranger to the church and its worship. In spite of abuses, mimes have acted out the Christian gospel for generations. In recent years, mime has regained a place in worship as a medium of procl…

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In This Section

Chapters & Articles in Mime In Worship (6)

Entry 1
Mime In The Bible

Nonverbal actions can communicate many powerful feelings and truths. The prophets of Israel used the medium of mime…

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Entry 2
Mime In The Early Church

The following article outlines the role of mime in the church and society during the first centuries after Christ. …

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Entry 3
Mime In The Medieval Church

The pattern that began in the early church continued in the Middle Ages: official pronouncements squelched mime eve…

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Entry 4
Mime In The Contemporary Church

Mime and clowning have returned to the church in the twentieth century, providing an important means for presenting…

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Entry 5
Planning And Leading Mime In Worship

Mimetic gestures have been increasingly used in worship in recent years, especially among charismatics. This articl…

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Entry 6
An Example Of Mime

The following instructions, called mimography, describe mimetic movements that may be used to portray Jesus' Parabl…

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