Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue - by Marianne Moyaert & Joris Geldhof (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Shared ritual practices, multi-faith celebrations, and interreligious prayers are becoming increasingly common in the USA and Europe as more people experience religious diversity first hand. While ritual participation can be seen as a powerful expression of interreligious solidarity, it also carries with it challenges of a particularly sensitive nature. Though celebrating and worshiping together can enhance interreligious relations, cross-riting may also lead some believers to question whether it is appropriate to engage in the rituals of another faith community. Some believers may consider cross-ritual participation as inappropriate transgressive behaviour.

Bringing together leading international contributors and voices from a number of religious traditions, Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue delves into the complexities and intricacies of the phenomenon. They ask: what are the promises and perils of celebrating and praying together? What are the limits of ritual participation? How can we make sense of feelings of discomfort when entering the sacred space of another faith community? The first book to focus on the lived dimensions of interreligious dialogue through ritual participation rather than textual or doctrinal issues, this innovative volume opens an entirely new perspective.

Review Quotes

"Ritual, Participation and Interreligious Dialogue is a superb collection of essays addressing with boldness and acuity three turns in modern theology and the study of religion: the turn to religious practice in all its forms as a topic of study, attention to what people actually do, as distinct from theologies and rules about what ought to happen; sensitivity to the interplay of practice and theology, each influencing the other; [and] a new sensitivity to the phenomenon of interreligious participation in religious practice ... this timely and valuable volume helps us to move forward in addressing a key phenomenon of this century." --Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

"In this important book, contributors from many parts of the world and of different faiths share their experiences and reflections." --Faith and Freedom

"Moyaert and Geldhof are to be congratulated on bringing together a timely and excellent volume on the topic of ritual participation. Covering theoretical and theological issues as well as case studies from a range of traditions and global perspectives it really will be a landmark work in this area. Scholars and students in interreligious studies and cognate fields will be using this volume for its insights and building upon it for further research for many years, if not decades, to come. The range of perspectives and the depth of analysis and insight contained in its pages are what make it stand out as a contribution towards what is still a young and underexplored field, and will set a very high benchmark for anyone following in their wake." --Paul Hedges, Associate Professor of Interreligious Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

"A superb collection of critical reflections on the possibility and limits of interreligious ritual participation. It provides an excellent complement to the work that is ongoing in the area of interreligious studies." --Catherine Cornille, Professor of Comparative Theology, Boston College, USA

About the Author

Marianne Moyaert is Professor and Chair of Comparative Theology and the Hermeneutics of Interreligious Dialogue at the VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is also guest lecturer at the KU Leuven, Belgium, teaching Jewish-Christian Relations.

Joris Geldhof is Professor of Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium. He is the director of the Liturgical Institute in Leuven, Belgium.