Guidelines for Interfaith and Intertraditional Worship-cont.

Last week, we posted the first four of eight guidelines for interfaith/intertraditional worhsip, as proposed by Susan White. The first four guidelines are significant: they require that we make no assumptions about what worship is or does; they require that we pay attention, that we watch, and that we listen; and, above all, they require our willingness to learn from those we so often label "other." The remaining four guidelines are as follows:

    5. Abide by the conventions. Some practices are simply part of religious “good manners,” even though they may have deep historical or theological roots. These conventions may be most apparent when you enter a place of worship outside your own faith. A man attending an Orthodox or Conservative synagogue will be asked to wear a yarmulke (kippah) to cover his head as a sign of respect for God. Before entering a mosque you will be expected to take off your shoes. At a Hindu festival meal you may be expected to eat with your right hand.

    6. Respect the practices reserved for “insiders. ” Clearly, there are some liturgical words, postures and observances that only faithful adherents to a religious tradition are admitted to…Here again, having an informant or talking beforehand to a leader of the community is invaluable…Among Jews, for example, the wearing of the tallith (the prayer shawl) and the tefillin (the binding, containing the commandments, which is wrapped around the head and forearm) has ritual significance and is forbidden to outsiders. Some traditions ask that outsiders sit in specially-designated sections of the building, thus exhibiting a measure of control over your behavior. Though “blending in” is more difficult in these circumstances, you may find that customs of this kind provide a certain sense of security.

    7. Expect surprises. If you are paying close attention to the proceedings, surprises will be an inevitable part of worshiping with people of another religious tradition…If you can enter into worship taking nothing for granted, you will very likely be better able to enjoy the surprises rather than be alarmed by them.

    8. Reflect theologically on your experience…Who is God for the people who worship in this way? How does this God operate? What does the action say about the nature of the human person and the created order, about revelation and salvation? In word, symbol and gesture-implicitly or explicitly-the cultic answers to these questions are being expressed. [From Susan J. White, “A new relationship: Guidelines for Intertraditional Worship,” Liturgy 10.1 (Spring 1992): 45-50.]

In what ways do these guidelines suggest a new approach to the work of interfaith worship?

Susan J. White is Emeritus Professor of Spiritual Resources and Disciplines of Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, TX. She and her husband Kenneth Cracknell now run Sutton Books in Norwich, VT

Guidelines for Interfaith/Intertraditional Worship

Some years ago, The Liturgical Conference published an issue of Liturgy that focused on ecumenical (meaning "inter-Christian" rather than "interfaith") concerns. In that issue, Susan J. White provided a set of guidelines for what the author called "intertraditional worship" that would serve us well in thinking about interfaith worship.

Perceptive appreciation for liturgical diversity has various implications for liturgists involved in ecumenical relations. First, it implies an obligation to avoid embracing a false liturgical ecumenism based on a superficial assessment of similarities and differences in worship and doctrine. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it implies a willingness to enter into the worship of Christians and those of other faith with openness and the vulnerability that that involves.

A host of questions now arise. Can we put aside our own particular liturgical agenda long enough to worship with Christians of other denominations and with people of other faith without the element of prejudice? Can we allow the worship of others to speak to us freely and with an independent voice? Are we willing to look, listen and enter into a liturgical world different from our own with due respect for its integrity and value? And are we able to move into genuine dialogue, in which each liturgical voice is truly heard? 

White proposed eight guidelines for “intertraditional” worship. We provide guidelines 1-4 this week, and will provide 5-8 next week.

    1. Learn to appreciate the worldview of which worship is a part…The first step… in appreciating a particular liturgical tradition is to gain some knowledge of its underlying structures. 

    2. Learn the names of things. In liturgy as in other worlds, naming things correctly is a first step toward understanding things correctly…Accurate naming not only helps us to disengage from our liturgical presuppositions but also lowers our chances of offending those with whom we wish to pray. 

    3. Find an interpreter. Anthropologists tell us that a “native informant” is one of their most valuable tools; so with liturgists and others engaging in ecumenical exploration... You might choose to make contact with the community before you attend a worship service by speaking with the leader and discovering something about the community’s ethos and liturgical practice. In some cases that step is essential, since not all places of worship are open to outsiders.

    4. Learn to observe and to listen…Learning to detach ourselves from our own theological and liturgical presuppositions is a necessary first step toward useful observation; asking the right questions is essential…By close observation and by attempting to abandon theological and liturgical bias, we can uncover perspectives on God and on the world, on human beings and on the nature of the community, that might resist detection by other means. [From Susan J. White, “A new relationship: Guidelines for Intertraditional Worship,” Liturgy 10.1 (Spring 1992): 45-50.]

These first four guidelines are significant: they require that we make no assumptions about what worship is or does; they require that we pay attention, that we watch, and that we listen; and, above all, they require our willingness to learn from those we so often label "other."

Susan J. White is Emeritus Professor of Spiritual Resources and Disciplines of Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, TX. She and her husband Kenneth Cracknell now run Sutton Books in Norwich, VT.