From rites of passage to patterned actions in the in-group, ritual is essential to human life, as it creates a shared and conventional world of human sociality and expresses and controls the meaning of experience. While human communities are sustained and ordered by rituals, not all communities, due to their function that sets boundaries and thus promotes normativity, welcome those who do not have the body, ability, means, or will to participate in those rituals and ceremonies.

Historically, ritual has proved to be a point of tension between Christian colonialism and traditional belief and practice, but what does it look like when it takes its place as a liberative tool? With links to 14 countries, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, India, Malawi, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, the U.S., and Zimbabwe, the 17 contributors to this volume collectively demonstrate the ways in which ritual can operate as a mode of resistance and liberation

Part of a new trilogy of volumes co-published with the World Council of Mission’s DARE (Discernment And Radical Engagement) programme.