ABSTRACT
Sacramentaltheologians,aswasseeninChapterOne,increasinglydrawonthe workofscholarsfromthesocialsciencesinresponsetothelatetwentieth-century re-locationoftheologyinworship.Suchreferencesaresoughttohelpadiscipline previouslybasedmostlyontextsandtextualcriticismtoadjusttoanepistemology thatfavourshumanactsandtheanalysisofactions.Thischapterinvestigatesthe groundsonwhichtheologyconsultsthesocialsciencesingeneralandtheemerging fieldofritualstudiesinparticular.ItquestionsChauvet'sassertionthatritualityis whatmakesasacramentinthelightofrecentdevelopmentsinritualstudiesandit arguesthatwhileritualstudiesaffordsliturgicaltheologyawealthof methodologicalprecedentandexperimentation,cross-culturalperspectives,selfconsciousepistemologiesandthearticulationofsomeverysignificantissues(ritual definition,ritualpowerandritualtradition/legitimacy),itneverthelessfailsto answertheproblemforwhichtheologyturnstoit:thequestionofaccess.
