Blessed Transgression: On Serving Communion to Jews

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Jon Paul Sydnor

Abstract

The sharing of religious rituals across religious boundaries is increasing. More and more, we invite our religious neighbors to practice our rituals, and they invite us to practice theirs. In this autobiographical essay, I will reflect on my Christian community’s experience of inviting Jews to take communion, and the surprising results of that invitation. First, I will sketch the working theology of ritual operative in our church. Then, I will describe the event of shared worship and shared ritual participation. I will conclude with an analysis of the event based on interreligious thought and ritual theory. This analysis will lead to a positive, ethical prescription: religious traditions should selectively embrace interformation—interreligious transformation through shared religious practice, especially ritual practice.

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