Recapturing an Enchanted World: Ritual and Sacrament in the Free Church Tradition

Rempel (The Lord’s Supper in Anabaptism), a senior fellow at the Toronto Mennonite Theological Center, argues in this meticulous scholarly work that members of the Free Church tradition—which eschews governmental dictates or funding, much of which has influenced Christian churches throughout history—occupy a spiritual landscape that can feel “liturgically lean,” or even “barren.” By centering the doctrine of Christ’s incarnation, Rempel offers a “life giving” interpretation of Christian sacraments that serves to integrate the sacred and profane within church communities and services while also respecting the Free Church concern for the individual. Anticipating the skepticism of Free Church readers who may associate “ritual” with other Christian traditions they reject (such as codified congregational liturgy), Rempel’s understanding of ritual encompasses familiar forms, such as music, and emphasizes the “sacramentality of time” alongside the evolving practices of baptism and communion. Rempel’s questions about sacramental practice flow from his interest in enriching Free Church liturgy, which he feels has been underserved due to the amount of attention paid to traditional sacraments. While his approach to doing so is ecumenical, he primarily draws from the practices of the early church and trinitarian Protestant denominations to help make his examples more digestible. Christians within the Free Church tradition will find Rempel’s historical, theological, and practical analysis a worthwhile study. (Jan.)