Abstract
In this article it is demonstrated why and how liminality has developed into a key concept in Practical Theology, in particular in Liturgical Studies. Liminality began its voyage at the beginning of the 20th century as indication of the phase “betwixt and between” distinguished social and spatial stages in rites of passage (Van Gennep, 1960). Among its defining qualities were autonomy and in-stability. In the sixties it developed into a more permanent state, in which “communitas” could come into being as a marginal form of human interrelatedness (Turner, 1995). In the network society of the 21st century liminality has accomplished its journey by moving to the centre of society, pushing structured human interrelatedness to the “margin”, or more precisely to the local, regional, national or categorical (religious, gender, sexual preference, etc.) domain (Castells, 2000a; 2004; 2000b). Hu-man society is built around a centre of the stability of the unstable. This also holds for Christian faith and for liturgy. Christian ritual is performed across (worldwide) networks and in independent groups and churches by anyone who chooses to do so. There is no liturgical elite anymore; it is principally a popular move-ment characterised by “plural authority structures”. The acade-mic heuristic power of liminality is finally demonstrated in two liturgical cases.
Highlights
Ben de Klerk was my threshold to Africa, for he was the first colleague to invite me to the Republic of South Africa, in March 2001, after he had visited me in the Netherlands the year before
In this article I will demonstrate why and how liminality can be regarded as a key concept in Practical Theology, in particular in Liturgical Studies, by describing the journey that the concept made through the 20th century and developing it further for use in the 21st century; subsequently I will show its academic heuristic power in two cases
Victor Turner extended the liminary phase in The ritual process (1995) sixty years later. He distinguishes two forms of “human interrelatedness” – liminality and “the status system” – that are characterised by a long list of opposing terms, e.g. transition/state, homogeneity/heterogeneity, absence of property/property, heteronomy/degrees of autonomy, humility/just pride of position, and nakedness or uniform clothing/distinctions in clothing (Turner, 1995: 106 ff.)
Summary
Ben de Klerk was my threshold to Africa, for he was the first colleague to invite me to the Republic of South Africa, in March 2001, after he had visited me in the Netherlands the year before. De Klerk, in a rather optimistic tone, formulates the thesis that both transformations may empower each other under certain conditions which are sketched in the article This mutual empowerment is conceptualised as liturgical inculturation, which is clearly distinguished from syncretism of Christian faith with African Traditional Religions. Transgression, transcultural and (crossing) borders lead us to the sphere of the concept of liminality – deduced from the Latin word limen or threshold, as it is coined by the anthropologists Arnold van Gennep (1960) and Victor Turner (1995). In this article I will demonstrate why and how liminality can be regarded as a key concept in Practical Theology, in particular in Liturgical Studies, by describing the journey that the concept made through the 20th century and developing it further for use in the 21st century; subsequently I will show its academic heuristic power in two cases. I will ask Ben de Klerk a question
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