Infelicitous inter-ritual hospitality |
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Authors: | Marianne Moyaert |
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Affiliation: | Chair of Comparative Theology and Hermeneutics of Interreligious Dialogue, Faculty of Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | This article focuses on inter-ritual hospitality, ‘where the reciprocal roles of host and guest set the parameters for interaction’ (60). This type of hospitality has the potential to enhance the dialogue between religions; indeed, one may ask whether there can be a greater token of mutual respect and appreciation than that of inviting another to share one’s rituals. In this article, however, I am not interested primarily in the success stories of inter-ritual hospitality that have brought growth and enrichment for the parties involved; rather, I will focus my attention on its infelicitous counterparts. The failure of inter-ritual hospitality is a subject that has been explored very little in interreligious studies, and there is little (ethnographic) documentation on this subject. One could say that inter-ritual failure is virgin territory among interreligious scholars. I will begin to explore some of the issues at stake and examine where inter-ritual hospitality can go wrong. In doing so, I continue and expand the research done by ritual scholars who have focused their attention on infelicitous ritual performances conducted mainly in ‘monoreligious’ settings. |
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Keywords: | Ritual failure Ronald Grimes inter-rituality interreligious hospitality |
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