Roger Grainger – författare

Group spirituality is an increasingly popular area of focus, and working in groups raises some very different and valuable consequences which wouldn't necessarily arise in a one-to-one encounter. In Group Spirituality, Roger Grainger, an author already established as an authority on Drama therapy, provides a functional guide to group spirituality and workshops. Derived from the authors' experiences of working with groups of people interested in exploring their own and other people's spirituality, Group Spirituality turns an abstract idea into a practical and recognizable experience. The nature of group work, the embodiment of ideas and feelings, and circumstances aiding personal encounter are discussed. Workshop examples aimed at establishing group identity and the introduction of the idea of the 'safe place' are explained. The symbolism of spiritual awareness is approached, and a firm distinction between spirituality and religion is made. Group Spirituality's approach to spirituality from a workshop focus, successfully attempts to embody spirituality and provide a framework for consciously examining and integrating spirituality within the rest of our life.

Group spirituality is an increasingly popular area of focus, and working in groups raises some very different and valuable consequences which wouldn't necessarily arise in a one-to-one encounter. In Group Spirituality, Roger Grainger, an author already established as an authority on Drama therapy, provides a functional guide to group spirituality and workshops. Derived from the authors' experiences of working with groups of people interested in exploring their own and other people's spirituality, Group Spirituality turns an abstract idea into a practical and recognizable experience. The nature of group work, the embodiment of ideas and feelings, and circumstances aiding personal encounter are discussed. Workshop examples aimed at establishing group identity and the introduction of the idea of the 'safe place' are explained. The symbolism of spiritual awareness is approached, and a firm distinction between spirituality and religion is made. Group Spirituality's approach to spirituality from a workshop focus, successfully attempts to embody spirituality and provide a framework for consciously examining and integrating spirituality within the rest of our life.

This book brings home the dramatic identity of ritual and the religious significance of all kinds of theatre. Historically speaking, religious ritual and theatre appear to have evolved together. But what is the relationship between catharsis and liturgy? How liturgical is theatre, and how theatrical is liturgy? Liturgy's purpose is dramatic; like theatre it is a kinetic medium focusing upon the presence of the other person, whether divine or human. The book explores the characteristics of liturgical experience -- concentration, single mindedness, intentionality, emotional catharsis and above all, the quality of encounter on which personal environment depends -- an exploration which leads into the dramatic shape underlying both liturgy and theatre, that of the rite of passage itself. Examples are given of such rites, understood from the point of view of their theatrical nature and purpose. This involves looking at liturgical structure from a point of view which up to now has largely been neglected by scholars, although its relevance emerges with striking force, as the drama of the incursion of the divine into human lives. Many have spoken and written of the 'drama of religious ritual' and been content to leave it at that. Roger Grainger takes a cliche and examines the often misunderstood truth it expresses.

This is a book about the central principle of drama and theatre -- how we join up with one another in order to enjoy a play. This is the principle defined by Coleridge when he described poetry as involving 'the willing suspension of disbelief', a phrase often used by theatre critics and others, but one which is rarely examined in any detail, having as much to do with psychology as aesthetics. Roger Grainger is both a psychologist and an actor, and is thus uniquely placed to investigate this shared territory, not only from an academic viewpoint but also professionally, in 'hands-on' ways. Theatre has the ability to transfer reality: it promotes a situation where disbelief is willingly suspended in every gesture of demonstration or presentation. As a consequence, imaginative involvement is at the heart of theatrical endeavour, and thus has inevitable crucial repercussions for human happiness and well-being. Drama and the uses to which we put it represent part of the process of living our lives -- drama is an aspect of being human which is frequently misunderstood and almost always undervalued. This fact about ordinary life is considered here with regard to its social and sociological implications. The concern here is with ordinary human experience; the purpose is to draw attention to something that is usually taken for granted and almost always denied the respect it deserves. Without the experience we so often dismiss as 'mere entertainment', we would not just find life less enjoyable, it would be unendurable. Without the psychological harmony with our inner selves and our worlds which imagination allows and encourages, we would struggle to be human at all. This book sets out to explain what it is that makes drama in all its manifestations -- including literature -- 'work', and how the engagement with imagination leads to psychological wholeness.

The Bible and the sacraments go together as the cornerstone of Christian identity. Wherever Christianity is practised in traditional ways, converts are baptised and bread is broken together. Countless books have been written about the theological significance these events, but their strictly human meaning and value as ways of helping people to make sense of themselves and enjoy their lives together has sometimes been overlooked. The sacraments are first and foremost signs of belonging, to God and with one another. They are sacramental not only because of the circumstances surrounding their origin, but also because of their function in incorporating the personal belonging to which they point. Roger Grainger explores the human side of sacrament -- the emotional hunger which it addresses, and what this means from a theological point of view; and what it still means for us today, despite all the changes which have taken place over the ages in the world in which we live. By looking at the way human beings relate to one another we can begin to see the amazing relevance of these traditional ceremonies -- their God given ability to heal our personal woundedness and bring to the forefront the reality of belonging together in community. The significance of sacramental worship for human growth and development is examined in some depth, using the insights to be gained from the anthropological study of religion, while its contribution to psychological health and the establishment of individual identity through personal relationship is identified as the basis of our sense of belonging. This book proceeds from its author's conviction that a better understanding of the dynamics of our belonging would contribute to the Church's mission within a fragmented society.

Roger Grainger has addressed an issue which he is well versed in and has written some books on it in past. This study, however, is extremely relevant since it has been done specifically from a perspective of the Church of England. Although a lot has been written on small groups in the United States, and elsewhere, the focus of the present study is unique and will be an asset not only to the Church of England in the United Kingdom but also, as one commentator has written, "to the entire Christian Fraternity on the issue of Group Learning". The basic premise is that a more experimental approach to Group Work might usefully be adopted. The Bible provides evidence in both the Old and New Testaments of the awareness involved in group belonging. Within the UK the Church of England concentrates its congregational training in one kind group-based format: process evangelism'. But this format neglects more experiential and less directive kinds of group work, which may more effectively educate church members in Christian belonging. In order to discover how different groupwork structures affect learning, three different group formats -- one directive and two experiential -- are compared on a longitudinal basis. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis the principal themes emerging from members' self-reports of the different structures reveal four value constructs which play a dominant role in all three kinds of group but with respective prominences and potential enrichments. The practical significance of this for Christian group work -- and for religious education in general -- is considered, arriving at a strategy for congregational training applicable to the church as a whole.

This book looks at the way theatre works in order to make 'space for living'. It provides the means to help one feel more deeply, think more clearly, relate more personally, by giving audiences and actors the opportunity to rehearse their roles within a setting which is imagined, but to make use of feelings and thoughts which are real. This book extends the territory explored by Peter Brook in The Empty Space. It adds a new psychological dimension: recognising that not only do we ourselves make space for theatre, but it is also true that theatre makes space for us -- a 'space for living'. Roger Grainger looks in turn at the different kinds of space theatre creates, using written sources and the spoken testimony of actors and members of the audience. The author's own discoveries as a professional actor give passion and immediacy to the acting/audience participation opportunities these insights provide. Based on genuine experience of, and love for, the theatre, this book does not present plays solely as literature but as particular kinds of theatrical experience. In so doing the author breaks new ground in theatre studies and provides actors and audience with tools that promote 'hands-on' knowledge and experience of the human value of drama and theatre.

The author shows how drama therapy draws on both drama and ritual. He argues that personal construct theory provides a hermeneutically useful approach to the study of drama therapy. He shows that drama therapy itself is an effective treatment for depression and schizophrenia, having a measurable effect on thought disorder; he thus tries to be as definite as possible about a subject which resists the 'scientific' apporach, and he is concerned not only to think rationally about drama therapy, but to examine the specific relationship between rational thought and artistic experience which allows the second to act as the mediator of the first.In Part One, the author investigates the therapeutic origins of theatre before moving on to the part played by drama in psychological maturation, leading to a discussion of depression, thought disorder and schizophrenia and the role of drama therapy in their treatment.Part Two examines the drama therapy experience and the ways in which the therapeutic possiblities of drama can be harnessed, both in improvised dramatic episodes and in theatre games, to achieve a wide range of therapeutic goals.

This study examines the underlying theatrical underpinning of dramatherapy, which is firmly based on an understanding of processes which are fundamentally theatrical: imagination, identification and catharsis. It approaches the subject systematically, arguing that the hidden psychological mechanisms which make theatre work are the same as those which operate in dramatherapy. In other words, the authors argue, it is the theatricality of dramatherapy which makes it healing.

This book would appeal to professionals and practitioners in the field of bereavement care, particularly funeral practices. In the presence of much that is so meaningless through grief, this book provides a meaningful overview, perhaps with new insights and perspectives, and is as such highly recommended.'- The Compassionate Friends Newsletter UK'Discusses research in the field of art therapy, the forms of research available in the field, and the ways in which definitions of research affect understanding of the arts therapies and how they are practised. In his introductory chapter, the author outlines the importance of research into the arts therapies and explains that, while the rest of the book focuses primarily on research into drama therapy , his observations are applicable to other forms of art therapy. He describes the characteristics of art therapy and how these affect the types of research that can be carried out in the field... The author addresses questions relating to research by practicing art therapists, the investigative processes open to them, and the necessary differences between the approaches they take and those of traditional academic research. He proposes an art-based form of research, which uses art as both the means of interpreting art and of presenting that interpretation.'- ARTbibliographies ModernIn The Social Symbolism of Grief and Mourning Roger Grainger focuses on the role of funerals in promoting the personal and social adjustment of the bereaved. The work explores the significance of many of the areas and stages connected with death, with chapters covering such topics as:* attitudes towards death* our fear of death and dying* ways in which we attempt to come to terms with death* the rituals that surround these processes.By tying together folklore and traditional beliefs with actual funeral practices, both ancient and modern, the author has created a work that examines the anthropological, psychological and superstitious aspects of our relationship to death and dying.'Grainger is multi-talented, drawing on his expertise in drama, counselling, acting, theology, sociology and anthropology... He has some interesting things to say about the necessity of chaos, and how this is ritualised in the Irish wake. Unlike many authors on bereavement, Grainger takes seriously the ghost beliefs that are widespread throughout history'- Bereavement Care'The Social Symbolism of Grief and Mourning is a complex study of death from the perspectives of drama, psychology, anthropology, and working pastoral practice. Roger Grainger ties his study to ancient and current funeral practices, and examines the beliefs about death implicit in our social behaviour; but more importantly, he had understood and can communicate, the absurd quality of death and its religious nature. By its very nature, death is paradoxical: it cannot be contained by words or rites, but that is just what we seek to do, must do, to make sense of it. In doing this, we make sense of life. The important bearing on changing funeral practices, but more pressingly on the way we speak and preach (if we do) about death.'- Church Times'Roger Grainger's book is a refreshingly new approach to a wide range of theory and practice regarding attitudes towards death, dying and the dead. Most of the material cited was collected presumably for his PhD in the 1970s and the only major criticism relates to the absence of contributions of contemporary philosophers and commentators such as Foucault, Levinas, Primo Levi and Elias. However, this is more than compensated for by a fresh look at the work of some of the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century anthropologists as well as eastern works, such as the Tibetan Book Of The Dead … Grainger cites sources which deplore the current state of British funerals and promotes the charter of the National Funeral College. In concluding the book with a chapter entitled The Rite of Passage, he conveys, with good supporting evidence, the importance of sustaining these rites in order to support bereaved people in what can be seen as a mythical experience which is also practical and rooted in reality. I recommend this book not least because of its exhaustive research which provides an excellent resource for any further study in this area.'- Progress in Palliative Care

Writing from a dramatherapist's perspective, Roger Grainger looks at methods of researching the arts therapies, and how particular definitions of research affect our understanding and practising of arts therapies. He places approaches to research in four categories: quantitative research (which seeks to demonstrate), qualitative research (which explains by describing), action research (which explains by experiencing) and art-based research (which aims to document in an appropriate language, in this case art). Grainger evaluates all of these approaches, arguing that our theoretical or philosophical understanding of what research actually is has an effect on what we think research can be used for.Grainger argues that research always involves a trade-off between two kinds of inaccuracy, numerical and experiential, which correspond to the imprecise fit of the way we think about life and life itself. A range of research paradigms is useful because each regards the world in a different way. Taken together they provide a range of ways of increasing our understanding.

Practical Approaches to Dramatherapy is derived from the authors' experiences of working with dramatherapy in a range of different situations. It focuses on the flexibility of the applications of dramatherapeutic principles. The book provides a comprehensive account of the history, theory and practice of drama and its therapeutic use. The authors explain the shape of a session, how dramatherapy works, and how it can be interpreted via myth, symbol and psychological theory. Work with individuals and groups is described, as are sessions with masks, improvisation, and use of scripts. The reader is encouraged to incorporate dramatherapy approaches into a variety of existing ways of working: for example, in socials skills groups, assertiveness training and anger management. Highlighting the potential scope of dramatherapy and providing practical examples and advice, Practical Approaches to Dramatherapy extends the boundaries of dramatherapy practice.

Religions contribute to wars, but they can also contribute to peace. They are its necessary foundation. Here eight different religions join together in peace to pray for peace. Under the auspices of the interfaith organization, The Week of Prayer for World Peace, they bring home vividly the love that is God and the horror that is war. It is not only inner peace - tranquility of soul and mind - which is being sought here, but an end to agony and bloodshed, physical and psychological torture, abuse of every kind taking place in the world of men, women and children. This is a very practical prayer book, earthed in the pain of being human. Peace itself comes in many different forms, and the book is arranged to be flexible and comprehensive, ideal for individual or group use. It consists of seven weeks of prayer, each of which contains eight "days" of prayers and intercessions on particular themes connected with the overall theme of "Peace on earth and goodwill towards mankind".