Bringing together two of our greatest sources of meaning and transformation This book marries two partners that are made for each other. The result, as in all good unions, is mutual enrichment and deeper life. --Jack Shea, author of Stories of God Now available in paperback, this moving and enlightening book presents us with a compelling vision of what can happen when we take the opportunity to connect stories and rituals--a vision of individuals and communities transformed through a deeper sense of connection to our loved ones, our communities, and God. Herbert Anderson and Edward Foley reveal how when stories and rituals work together, they have the potential to be both mighty and dangerous--mighty in their ability to lift us up and help us make these connections beyond ourselves and dangerous in challenging us to learn to live with complexity and contradiction. They show how much more meaningful a baptism, wedding, or funeral can be when liturgy is made to include and recognize the personal stories of those involved. Suddenly, these familiar life-cycle rituals are infused with new life as their participants become connected in a narrative web linking past and present, human and divine. Newly created rituals can also help us connect our stories to the divine story, giving meaning to what we experience and bringing us closer to God. Ministers, worship leaders, and pastoral caregivers can use this approach to storytelling and ritual to find ways to bring together worship and pastoral care, diminishing fragmentation and fostering coherence in their religious communities. "This book marries two partners that are made for each other. The result, as in all good unions, is mutual enrichment and deeper life. Both stories and the people who tell them and rituals and the people who enact them will benefit from reading and studying Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals." —Jack Shea, author of Stories of God "An extraordinarily compassionate and accessible book that forges practical and conceptual links between storytelling and ritualizing. [This] is a work that encourages and enables Christians to reflect more profoundly on the big, obvious transitions such as birth, coming of age, marriage, and death, as well as other . . . little-recognized passages such as divorce, adoption, and leaving home." —Ronald L. Grimes, author of Marrying and Burying: Rites of Passage in a Man's Life "Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals breaks new ground, showing us how to return ritual to its rightful place at the core of human?and Christian?experience. Ministers across the range of denominations and pastoral specializations will find here an indispensable resource, both practical and prophetic." —Evelyn Eaton Whitehead and James D. Whitehead, Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University, Chicago "The church of the twenty-first century needs to be a community where meaningful stories are shared and fulfilling rituals are enacted. In this bold and wide-ranging volume, the authors move us toward that noble goal by helping us reimagine parables, myths, divine narratives, worship, pastoral care, and the spirituality of reconciliation." —Frederic A. Brussat, coauthor of Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life "This rare and provocative book, by two of North America's foremost scholars in the fields of liturgy and pastoral care, brilliantly and accessibly engages in a much needed conversation between these disciplines." —Gordon W. Lathrop, Schieren professor of liturgy, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia Telling stories has long been recognized as an important part of healing, self-knowledge, and personal and spiritual development. At the same time, ritual has been an essential vehicle for connecting us to other people and to God while marking significant events in our lives. Why is it, then, that the rituals that mark our lives often feel unconnected to the stories we live? And why are there so many important events in our life story that pass without any ritual to help us signify their importance to who we are? Surprisingly, these two powerful means for understanding ourselves and our place in the world have rarely been brought together by those who guide us in our personal and spiritual development.In this moving and enlightening book, authors Herbert Anderson and Edward Foley present us with a compelling vision of what can happen when we take the opportunity to connect stories and rituals--a vision of individuals and communities transformed through a deeper sense of connection to our loved ones, our communities, and God. Anderson and Foley reveal how when stories and rituals work together, they have the potential to be both mighty and dangerous--mighty in their ability to lift us up and help us make these connections beyond ourselves and dangerous in challenging us to learn to live with complexity and contradiction.Throughout the book, the authors draw upon a wealth of stories, including many that