Abstract:
This contribution is a review article on the three most important books by F. Gerrit Immink in
practical theology. His approach to this discipline is studying faith praxis of the Protestantse
Kerk in Nederland (Protestant Church in the Netherlands) which is a church in the Reformed
tradition. In his first book he explained his approach to practical theology in a discussion with
the action theory and hermeneutical-communucative approaches. His choice for the study of
faith praxis opens the way for a more theological approach to him in which communication
between God and people is an important aspect. His second book forms the central part of this
article. He uses the concept performance in the liturgy which is adopted from the theater
world. In the performance by means of the execution of the liturgy by the congregation
(preacher, organ, music, singing, praying) they all get involved in the message from the Bible
of that Sunday, they are touched by it, it has an effect on them, and they get a new perspective
on the problems of everyday life. This is possible through the work of the Holy Spirit. The
epiclese prayers in the liturgy are prayers for the enlightening and work by the Spirit. He
discusses singing, praying, preaching, baptism and Holy Communion in detail. The main idea
is that the performance in the liturgy does something to you, it has an effect on you, something
happens to you. To my mind there is no need to choose between the ritual approach and the
approach he is putting on the table. The approaches can enrich each other.
Description:
n Refleksie op Gerrit Immink se bydrae oor ‘performance’. ’n Oorsigartikel van sy boeke In God geloven. Een praktisch-theologische
reconstructie, Zoetermeer, Meinema, 2003; Het Heilige gebeurt. Praktijk, theologie en traditie van de protestantse kerkdienst, Zoetermeer,
Boekencentrum, 2011; Bidden in het besef van Gods tegenwoordigheid, Zoetermeer, Boekencentrum, 2016.
