Rich Ritual: Creating Identity and Forming Community

Since Kent completed the “Ritual Journey” series earlier this month, we’re now starting a series of videos from our first virtual conference on adult faith formation (way back in October 2020) that will explore the power of ritual in daily life and the Christian tradition. These excerpts are from our opening address at the conference, titled “Treasures Old and New: Putting Vintage Wine in New Wineskins.” The section on ritual in this address was introduced with these words: “Researchers bring their own biases to their work, and … we [Kent & Rhoda] confess that ritual is a ‘beverage of choice’ for both of us. Ritual studies make some sweeping claims about the power of ritual; I’ll share a few.” This video begins with third claim: Ritual creates identity as it forms people into community. This excerpt is about 3 minutes long.