Do religions have borders? Geography, porosity, and the question of appropriation (John Thatamanil)

This podcast argues that although it is virtually impossible to demarcate clear descriptive boundaries between religious traditions—religious traditions are too porous, fluid, and relationally constituted for such stark lines to exist—nonetheless, persons from within traditions often find that they must draw normative boundary lines. Here, John Thatamanil considers one particular case, namely recent talk about the risks of appropriation. If there really is something ethically problematic when communities within one tradition take practices from another—this podcast explores Christian appropriation of Passover practice during Holy Week—then, clearly that is because traditions recognize that some rituals properly belong to one tradition and not another. One is not free to do as they please with their practices. Thatamanil argues that despite the fact that it may prove descriptively difficult to demarcate the lines between traditions, persons from religious communities may and often do need to come together to build and maintain boundaries between each other, even if those boundaries too will need routine renegotiation and maintenance. This episode is a cooperation between TheoPodacst and the Catholic Academy in Berlin. Folge direkt herunterladen