The Grace of Playing

by Courtney T Goto

Overview

Believers and teachers of faith regularly know the in-breaking of God's Spirit in their midst, when revelatory experiencing unexpectedly shifts habits of thinking, feeling, and doing toward more life-giving ways of being and becoming. When the moment is right, Spirit breathes new life into dry bones. Though religious educators have much practical wisdom about facilitating learning that is creative and transformative, sharper concepts, cases, and theory can help them do it more critically and assist learners to practice openness to wonder, surprise, and authenticity. The Grace of Playing explains how we can create the conditions for revelatory experiencing by understanding it in light of playing. The notion of playing "as if" can be powerfully reclaimed from ecclesial ambivalence, casual speech, and commercial interests that often lead playing to be associated with childishness, frivolity, or entertainment. This book theorizes adults playing for the sake of faith, drawing on D. W. Winnicott's psychoanalytic theory, a revision of Jurgen Moltmann's theology of play, biblical texts, medieval devotional practices, as well as art and aesthetics that help local faith communities engage in theological reflection. Communal forms of playing in/at God's new creation provide insights into pedagogies in which learners are creating and are created anew.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498233002
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	02/10/2016
Series:	Horizons in Religious Education
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	172
Sales rank:	795,348
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Courtney T. Goto is Assistant Professor of Religious Education at the Boston University School of Theology and a codirector of the Center for Practical Theology. Her research interests include aesthetic teaching and learning; imagination, creativity, and embodied knowing in adult religious education; and intersections of power, privilege, and culture in practical theology. Goto is a third-generation Japanese American United Methodist.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword Dean Blevins ix

Editors' Preface Jack L. Seymour Elizabeth Caldwell xi

Authors Preface xv

1 Introduction 1

From Revelation to Revelatory Experiencing 4

The Need for the Language of Playing 6

Seeking the Grace of Playing 12

2 Playing Social Scientifically: The Meanings of Playing 14

A Characterization of Playing 15

Many Approaches to Playing and Learning 21

Creativity and Playing as a Form of Engagement 27

How Christians Play 31

3 Playing Theologically: Leaning into God's New Creation 38

Moltmann Misunderstood 40

Assessing and Deconstructing Moltmann's Theology of Play 45

Moltmann Revised: Spirit and Playing for Love's Sake 48

Hide-and-Seek with the Holy Spirit 53

Christians Playing to Seek, Find, and Be Found 58

4 Playing Historically: Medieval Practices 60

Playing with Devotional Dolls 61

Playing by Pretense: Holy Fools 68

A Psychoanalytic Perspective 74

A Theological Perspective 78

Insights from Historic Cases of Revelatory Experiencing 80

5 Playing Aesthetically: Rethinking Our Grounds for Playing 83

Creating a Pretend Garden at a Japanese American Church 85

A Psychoanalytic Perspective 90

A Theological Perspective 95

A Historical Perspective 97

Insights from an Aesthetic Case of Revelatory Experiencing 98

Re-tilling Grounds for Playing 102

Playing with Renditions 107

Developing Local Practical Theological Aesthetics 108

Doing Theology by Playing Aesthetically 112

6 Towards a New Creation 114

Playing in a Detention Center 116

Analysis from Four Perspectives on Playing 117

Using the Tools, Finding Inspiration for Teaching 121

Forming Learners for Decentering and Re-centering 127

The Grace of Playing in Worlds in Need 131

A Commitment to Playing for Love's Sake 135

Bibliography 139

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Courtney Goto's book, The Grace of Playing, is a major breakthrough, heralding the place of play in education and especially in educating religiously. It opens us to a source of grace that heretofore has been generally neglected. Ours is surely a time that needs to embrace and celebrate the gift of play—and it is 'free' (gratia)."
—Thomas Groome, Professor of Theology and Religious Education, Boston College; Director of Boston College's Center for the Church in the 21st Century; author of Will There Be Faith?

"The Grace of Playing is an important new book. Drawing on theological, psychological, and aesthetic discussions of play, Goto re-envisions playing as revelatory experience—encounters with divine mystery, ourselves, and others culminating in new life-giving ways. In this original, robust, and highly accessible work, Goto transforms how we think about imagination, grace, Spirit, and faith in liturgy and religious education, and offers a powerful, fresh framework for doing practical theology."
—Charles R. Foster, Professor of Religion and Education emeritus, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"In this book, Goto coaxes religious educators to step into the sandbox with theologians, psychoanalysts, medieval nuns and holy fools, Issei Garden Angels, and juvenile offenders, to show what it takes to teach communities of faith to play with God and one another for love's sake. Be prepared to cast aside facile notions of escapist play for a theoretically sophisticated and existentially hefty introduction to 'revelatory experiencing.' A marvelous, aesthetic, practical theological playground for contemporary Christian religious education scholarship."
—Mai-Anh Le Tran, Associate Professor of Christian Education, Eden Theological Seminary

"Courtney Goto not only invites the reader into gardens of graceful action and reflection, she also encourages him/her to engage in the risky enterprise of doing theology in a truly interdisciplinary way. In this book the performance of religious education as play produces new, performative theologies. This is practical theology at its best!"
—Bert Roebben, Dortmund University

Editorial Reviews

"Courtney Goto's book, The Grace of Playing, is a major breakthrough, heralding the place of play in education and especially in educating religiously. It opens us to a source of grace that heretofore has been generally neglected. Ours is surely a time that needs to embrace and celebrate the gift of play—and it is 'free' (gratia)."
—Thomas Groome, Professor of Theology and Religious Education, Boston College; Director of Boston College's Center for the Church in the 21st Century; author of Will There Be Faith?

"The Grace of Playing is an important new book. Drawing on theological, psychological, and aesthetic discussions of play, Goto re-envisions playing as revelatory experience—encounters with divine mystery, ourselves, and others culminating in new life-giving ways. In this original, robust, and highly accessible work, Goto transforms how we think about imagination, grace, Spirit, and faith in liturgy and religious education, and offers a powerful, fresh framework for doing practical theology."
—Charles R. Foster, Professor of Religion and Education emeritus, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"In this book, Goto coaxes religious educators to step into the sandbox with theologians, psychoanalysts, medieval nuns and holy fools, Issei Garden Angels, and juvenile offenders, to show what it takes to teach communities of faith to play with God and one another for love's sake. Be prepared to cast aside facile notions of escapist play for a theoretically sophisticated and existentially hefty introduction to 'revelatory experiencing.' A marvelous, aesthetic, practical theological playground for contemporary Christian religious education scholarship."
—Mai-Anh Le Tran, Associate Professor of Christian Education, Eden Theological Seminary

"Courtney Goto not only invites the reader into gardens of graceful action and reflection, she also encourages him/her to engage in the risky enterprise of doing theology in a truly interdisciplinary way. In this book the performance of religious education as play produces new, performative theologies. This is practical theology at its best!"
—Bert Roebben, Dortmund University

From the Publisher