ABSTRACT
Beginning at least in the sixteenth century, ritual performance has emerged as a significant arena of recognition, conflict, and creative engagement between Hindu and Christian traditions. In this chapter, I draw on the theoretical framework of Catherine Bell to explore ritual and ritualization as a theme of Hindu–Christian relations in several different respects. First, ritual serves as a rich source of conceptual material for negotiating the relationship between Hinduism and Christianity as theological traditions. Second, ritual functions as an embodied means of cultivating dialogue and relationship among actual Hindus and Christian devotees in India. Finally, I suggest, ritual can be deployed as a fruitful metaphor for understanding the scholarly discipline of Hindu–Christian Studies itself, in the contemporary North American academy.
