These rituals form the imagination of a people who thus construe their world as a particular kind of environment based on the formation implicit in such practices. In just this sense Christianity is a unique social imaginary that “inhabits” and emerges from the matrix of preaching and prayer. The rhythms and rituals of Christian worship are not the “expression of” a Christian worldview, but are themselves an “understanding” implicit in practice—an understanding that cannot be had apart from the practices. It’s not that we start with beliefs and doctrine and then come up with worship practices
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