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Dance plays an important role in many religious traditions, in rites of passage, processions, healing rituals or festivals. But it is also controversial, especially in Christianity. Colonial European Christian discourses tend to separate dance from religion(s) and spirituality. This volume explores dance as "Third Space", following Homi Bhabha's postcolonial metaphor. The "Inter-Dance approach" combines interdisciplinary theoretical considerations with case studies. International experts examine dance controversies and discourses from the early church to World Christianity, as well as in Hasidic Judaism, Greek mysteries, Islamic Sufism, West African Togolese religions, and Afro-Brazilian Umbanda. Christian dance theologies are unfolded and the boundary-crossing potential of dance in interreligious and intercultural encounters is explored. The volume breaks new ground in how dance as ephemeral performative art, embodied thought and gendered discourse can transform studies of religion.
About the author
Dr. Shahzad Bashir is Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies and History at the Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.Dr. Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué is Professor of Ecumenical Ethics and Academic Dean of Globethics.net in Geneva, Switzerland.Dominika Hadrysiewicz is PhD Candidate, Study of Religion at the Department for Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Faculty of Theology, Humboldt-University zu Berlin, Germany.Dr. Riyako Cecilia Hikota is Research Assistant at the Chair of Theology in Transformation Processes of the Present, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany.Dr. Philip Knäble ist Postdoktorand im Göttinger Graduiertenkolleg »Expertenkulturen des 12. bis 18. Jahrhunderts«.Prof. Dr. Kimerer L. LaMothe is (Professional) Dancer, Choreograph, Playwright, Philosopher, and Scholar of Religion.Camille Lepeigneux researchs on Classic and Late Antiquity and joined Research Unit: Orient & Mediteranean at the Sorbonne University Paris, France.Dr. Martin Leutzsch is Professor of Biblical Theology at the Department of Protestant Theology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Paderborn, Germany.Prof. Dr. Ángel Francisco Méndez Montoya is (Professional) Dancer, Choreograph, Licentiate in Dance and Philosophy, Professor of Religious Studies at the Iberoamerican University, Coordinator for the Revista Iberoamericana de Teología (RIBET), Mexico City, Mexico.Raphael Sartorius is Research Assistant at the Chair of Intercultural Theology, Mission Studies and Religious Studies, Augustana University, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria and Visiting Scholar at Humboldt-University Berlin, Program on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development.Dr. des. Inga Scharf da Silva is Cultural Anthropologist and Visual Artist at the Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany.Dr. Karin Schlapbach is Professor of Latin Studies at the Department of Classical Philology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.Tatjana K. Schnütgen ist Gemeindepfarrerin und Kurseelsorgerin im Kneipp-Kurort Bad Wörishofen. Sie war wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen und der Universität Regensburg, bevor sie den Fachbereich Theologie im Evangelischen Bildungswerk Regensburg e. V. leitete.
Sie ist Tanzpädagogin, ausgebildet bei Wilma Vesseur und Barbara Jeanne Lins.
Für ihre Veröffentlichung „Tanz zwischen Ästhetik und Spiritualität. Theoretische und empirische Annäherungen“ erhielt sie 2021 den Wissenschaftspreis der Hanns-Lilje-Stiftung.Dr. Stephanie Schroedter is Professor for Music and Movement / Rhythmics at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria.Dr. Nkosinathi Sithole is Professor of Literature Studies, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the Department of English, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.Iris Steil is Student of Protestant Theology at the Augustana University, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Neuendettelsau, Germany.Dr. Jasmine Suhner is Research Assistant at the Chair for Practical Theology with Focus on Religious Pedagogy, University of Zurich, Switzerland.Dr. Susanne Talabardon is Professor of Jewish Studies at the Faculty for Social and Cultural Sciences, University of Bamberg, Germany.Dr. Heike Walz is Professor of Intercultural Theology, Mission Studies and Religious Studies at the Augustana University, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Neuendettelsau, Germany.Dr. Heike Walz is Professor of Intercultural Theology, Mission Studies and Religious Studies at the Augustana University, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Neuendettelsau, Germany.Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati ist Professorin für Religionswissenschaft und Religionsgeschichte an der Evangelisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Universität München.Dr. päd. Hans-Günter Heimbrock ist Professor für Praktische Theologie am Fachbereich Evangelische Theologie der J. W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt a. M.Trygve Wyller is Professor Emeritus in Diaconal Studies and Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo and Honorary Professor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has written extensively on space, ecclesiology, migration, phenomenology, ethics
and relevant Scandinavian Creation Theology-issues. Some of his recent publications are Diaconia/Empowering/Social Development, in the International Handbook of Practical Theology (2022); and Liberating, Spatial Theology. Some Reflections on How Theology Can Transform, in Dialogue with Gerald West (2024).
Email: trygve.wyller@teologi.uio.no
Dr. Hans-Joachim Sander ist Professor für Dogmatik an der Universität Salzburg.Dr. Stefanie Knauss ist zur Zeit Associate Professor für Theologie an der Villanova University (USA).Dr. Carla Danani ist Professorin für Politische Philosophie und Philosophie des Wohnens an der Universität von Macerata, Italien.Dr. Judith Gruber ist Dozentin für Systematische Theologie an der Katholischen Universität Leuven, Belgien.Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen is Associate Professor for Theology at the Department for Culture and Society, Arts at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Summary
Dance plays an important role in many religious traditions, in rites of passage, processions, healing rituals or festivals. But it is also controversial, especially in Christianity. Colonial European Christian discourses tend to separate dance from religion(s) and spirituality. This volume explores dance as “Third Space”, following Homi Bhabha's postcolonial metaphor. The “Inter-Dance approach” combines interdisciplinary theoretical considerations with case studies. International experts examine dance controversies and discourses from the early church to World Christianity, as well as in Hasidic Judaism, Greek mysteries, Islamic Sufism, West African Togolese religions, and Afro-Brazilian Umbanda. Christian dance theologies are unfolded and the boundary-crossing potential of dance in interreligious and intercultural encounters is explored. The volume breaks new ground in how dance as ephemeral performative art, embodied thought and gendered discourse can transform studies of religion.
Foreword
This volume breaks new ground by examining how dance as postcolonial “Third Space” transforms studies of religion. International experts explore controversies about dance and its boundary-crossing potential in diverse religious traditions, interdisciplinary theoretical reflections, Christian dance theologies, and interreligious and intercultural encounters.
