The Ship-of-Fools internet website famously lists reports on church services by 'mystery worshippers'. This provides a bit of fun for us all, but can at the same time be quite thought-provoking. The 'mystery worshipper' kind of activity can also be carried out more academically with serious theological studies in mind.
Noel Heather is an academic in the University of London who researches Christian poetry of the Reformation era and Christian language of today.
As part of this research he has visited a wide variety of churches, analysing in terms of modern linguistics some of their behavioural patterns. This article is derived from the resulting book and theological article series. It is not only interesting in itself but may act as a mirror to see our own situation with others' eyes, possibly to our benefit.
