Towards a Ritual Turn in Comparative Theology: Opportunities, Challenges, and Problems
Comparative theology generally begins from a study of texts, scriptural texts that have been canonized, and commentaries on these textsas well as philosophical, theological and mystical treatises. Though this textual focus gives us access to some of the most subtle and nuanced reasonings developed...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2018]
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
Year: 2018, Volume: 111, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-23 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Theology of religions
/ Ritual
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Comparative theology generally begins from a study of texts, scriptural texts that have been canonized, and commentaries on these textsas well as philosophical, theological and mystical treatises. Though this textual focus gives us access to some of the most subtle and nuanced reasonings developed in various traditions, I am concerned that this textual focus may limit our understanding of religion, and I am convinced that broadening the scope of comparative theology beyond texts will also contribute to the theological creativity of this approach. I hypothesize that, depending on the sort of source from which we theologize, different questions will come to mind relating to different theological problems. Indeed, turning to material and ritual practices, in addition to textual sources, will reveal aspects of the divine that remain invisible when one stays within the limits of textual study. I do not, in any way, want to turn this into an either/or story in which reading texts is placed over against engaging ritual and material practices. What I envision is a complementarity between textual and ritual comparison, not a privileging of one over the other. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816017000360 |