Books by Roger Grainger

Prospero's Island is a compelling study of islands and how they can contribute to the quality of concern and caring that human beings have for one another, specifically in Christian ministry work. Roger Grainger spent eighteen years as chaplain of a large psychiatric hospital and now works as a parish minister in Wakefield, England. He brings to life the characters from William Shakespeare's final play The Tempest as he utilizes the story of Prospero and Miranda, Ariel and Caliban, and the shipwrecked courtiers and clowns who were forced ashore by a tempest in order to emphasize that pastoral care can be an island for refuge and resources for those who need to come in from the storm. Using the image of an island as a metaphor for the human condition at its most vulnerable state, Grainger illustrates how Prospero demonstrates a particular purpose for his island that results in renewal rather than revenge. Prospero's Island innovatively compares Shakespeare's inspirational characters with real life as it takes an in-depth look at pastoral care as a nurturing process that lives in, and depends upon, the quality of personal relationships-just like Prospero did on a deserted island so many years ago.

This book is about experiences of personal chaos and their relationship to creativity. It presents evidence that creativity emerges where it seems totally unlikely, in things and places which are not usually associated with it: catastrophe, utter hopelessness and desperation, grief and depression, social oppression and injustice, failure and boredom. All these are chaotically disruptive of what we usually call 'quality of life'. In fact, they are different kinds of chaos, which represents the effective reversal of human meanings, thus bringing home the limitations of simple theorising. In this book the author concentrates on ways in which chaos impels us to make new kinds of sense of life, and to start living in a world which we experience as authentically different from whatever went before. This is chaos as a sustaining presence which is essential for life as it alone permits real change to take place.

Writing from a dramatherapist's perspective, 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, qualitative research, action research and art-based research.

In 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. Tying together folklore with funeral practices, the author has created a work that examines the anthropological, psychological and superstitious aspects of our relationship to death and dying.

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.

"Group Spirituality" provides a 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, the book turns an abstract idea into a practical and recognizable experience.