Chapter 27 A Ritual Turn in Comparative Theology
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Abstract
Most comparative theologians assume that religious meaning can be best studied through religious texts. A question that arises is if comparative theology due to its textual focus has a limited scope; this may also be a hindrance to come to a deep understanding of another religion in its complexity. What remains underexposed is that religion also speaks to the human person in its capacity to symbolize and ritualize. This chapter seeks to broaden the scope of comparative theology by exploring if and how rituals/liturgy may be resources for the comparative theology project. The assumption is that liturgy is not something added to theology, but rather an important locus wherein communities theologize and develop their understanding of the ‘divine’. Theological insights sometimes take form in the course of worship, and these insights may alter, correct, and transform community’s theologizing about tradition (and the other way around). Liturgy, as intention, performance and the action of a community, is therefore an important theological site for comparative theological work that sees and rethinks traditions in relation to one another.