Dr. Timothy Son has written an insightful book on the nature of religious rituals and practices for today's expanding global society. While his focus is on Christian congregations, his understanding of ritual principles based on faithful practices can be applied to many other religious organizations. Son invites the reader to take a deeper plunge into one's own traditional identity, and in doing so to also discover contrasting ritual practices often neglected within our global neighborhood. -- Carnegie Samuel Calian, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Academically rigorous, theologically sound, and spiritually rich, this book offers an insightful proposal for understanding intrinsic dialectics of ritual practices in forming and transforming congregational identity. Son invites and encourages us to have genuine conversations with our past, present, and future, and to discover a new sense of identity. -- Hyun-Sook Kim, Yonsei University, Korea Son passionately writes how ritual practice forms, reforms, and transforms individual spiritual identity as well as congregational collective identity-not only in primitive society, but also in postmodern society. He presents fresh, new ideas with thorough knowledge for local congregational leaders, seminary professors and students, doctoral students, and workshop leaders. -- Nam Soon Song, Knox College, University of Toronto